The Red, White and Blue
by doodledays
Summary: Steve Rogers is having trouble fitting in with the new world of 2012... Val Summers has always had trouble with... well, most everything... When they meet, stars collide and the two fall deeply in love. But in a world hanging in the balance with the threat of alien invasion everyday, is there any way to make it work? Rated m for violence and some suggestive themes later on! R&R plz
1. Chapters 1, 2, and 3

Author's note: This is the first three chapters of my first Fanfiction story! :) Enjoy!

Chapter 1

I remember the day Mom left.

Mom was packing up her bags while Dad was passed out on the couch. I, 7, was coloring in a coloring book and noticed her packing. "Mommy," I asked. "Where are you going?"

She gave me a look. "Somewhere far away from this Alabama sinkhole, Val. Far away from you and your dad and this trailer park. Far away," she said with a dreamy look on her face.

All I heard was "Far away from you." "What do you mean 'far away from me'?" I asked her innocently.

"Sweet, sweet Valencia Renee," Mom cooed sarcastically. "You are just as dense as your son-of-a-bitch father. I am leaving this place." She kissed me on the cheek and patted my rump and said, "Now run along and play." I returned to my coloring table, but I watched my mother all the time.

My mother and I look (ed) nothing alike. She has stick straight, shiny, orange-brown hair and freckles galore. She was at one time a healthy size 4 and had pretty green eyes. But years of drugs and alcohol use made her eyes a dullish mud green and made her an unnatural size double 0.

I, on the other hand, have big blue eyes and curly poofs of blonde hair with a small splattering of freckles on my sometimes tan skin. I was never ever stick straight, no matter how hard I tried. I was always a big boned, but curvy and cute, girl with the biggest bust and butt in the class.

Mom packed up her bags and kissed my cheek.

She walked into the living room and smacked my father's rear end, getting him semi-awake.

"Hector," she said. "I'm leaving you and the kid. The papers are on the front table. Sign them. The lawyer will be here on Monday for them."

"Where you going, Daphne?" he asked, but really it sounded like this, "Wheah yooo goone Daf knee?"

"I'm getting a ride to Birmingham. From there, who knows? Maybe San Fran or Vegas or, hey, even NYC or Chicago. See the sights, you know what I mean," she said.

Mom then walked out the door. That was the last time I had ever seen her.

I thought she had left because I had… powers. I had this flame thing, like the Human Torch, where I could catch my whole body on fire. She was always scared of it, calling it unnatural. Every time she told me this, even though I was little, she took little bits of my self-confidence. But that wasn't the only thing she took when she left to become a prostitute in Las Vegas.

Mom had taken all of the money. Literally. She took $75,000 from the bank account that, at most, held about $85,000. At most, meaning that if Dad was trying to go sober, Mom was getting the most tips out of any… dancer at the Club of Dreams, I was begging for money in front of Winn Dixie a couple towns over, and Dad went into work at least 4 days a week instead of his usual 2. That was when we were rich.

After Mom left, Dad started drinking heavily. He was only sober once or twice a week. He had a drinking pal, Johnny Thompson, whose son always tried to get me to kiss him and stuff. I was given the shopping duty, cleaning duty, clothing duty, washer duty, and every other duty except drinking duty. I also had to do enough schoolwork to pass each grade. Most of my teachers knew my predicament, so they weren't as harsh when they graded.

I was 11 when Social Services came and saw that my dad was wasted on the couch with Mr. Thompson and I was doing the dishes.

Dad was sentenced to eight to twelve months of rehabilitation. My mom's parents wouldn't take me in as they had disowned my mother when she got pregnant and married at 18. My dad's parents were dead and his grandma was in a nursing home. My dad's brother was in Afghanistan. 5 of my mom's 6 siblings wouldn't take me in. But my youngest, 28-year-old aunt, Pepper Potts, took me in to her small apartment up in New York City.

I was excited to go up to the city, having grown up in the worst trailer of all the crappy trailers in Pink Flamingo RV and Trailer Park in Jenkins, Alabama. Aunt Pep, as she had me call her, was the only sibling of Mom's that didn't desert her when she got pregnant. Pep babysat me when I was little while Mom was at work or Dad was in jail.

Pep was like the big sister I never had. She took me to see the sights, took me up in Stark Tower where she worked, and was an amazing chef. She let me meet her boss, a young Tony Stark, and his girlfriend at the time, a beautiful and young Jennifer Garner.

The best part about Pepper was that my fire didn't bother her a bit.

I wanted them to convict Dad and make me live with Pep forever. Pep wanted that too. But, a year after I came to stay with Pepper, they called me back. Before I stepped on the plane, Pepper gave me the phone number of Stark Tower, a one-way bus ticket up to New York City, a bundle of cash, and a cell phone with her number programmed in it.

"This is for when you can't stand him anymore," she told me.

I lasted seven years with my dad.

It was the middle of summer and I was rereading _Twilight _when my dad, drunken as hell, staggered into my small room.

"I wan yooo ta cum inta ma carrr an drivv wid me too da store. I need ta buy sum mor beer," he drunkenly said.

I knew where this was going. He would be the one driving drunk, but I would be the one going into the store and getting caught if the cops pull us over.

"No, Dad," I said.

He did the unexpected. He reached over and popped me in the jaw.

"What the heck, Pop?" I yelled, grabbing my jaw.

"Now, Daf knee, yooo list n ta me hereee. I wull NOT have yooo tell me NO," he said. He then fell head over heels onto my bed.

I had had enough. I was already planning to leave soon. I took the opportunity and pulled out my already packed duffel, my money, my half broken cell phone, and the new bus ticket Pep had sent me for my birthday and walked out of the trailer.

Long bus story short, I got on the bus and rode up to New York City in two days. I got off in the city and traveled on the subways to Pep's new apartment that she had told me about in my birthday letter. I asked the doorman in the lobby if she was home. After seeing my license, he told me that she had been sleeping and living in the Stark Tower because her boss, Tony Stark, had been taken by terrorists.

I nodded, told him thank you, and took the nearest subway to Grand Central, which was right in front of Stark Tower. I went up the elevator, nervous as heck, and stepped out onto the top floor.

There, lying on the couch in front of me, was Aunt Pep, covered in a blanket, obviously sleeping. A couple of men were working rapidly on a holographic computer and only one noticed me.

"Why are you here?" He asked, looking me up and down. I knew what he was thinking. _White trash._

"Uh, hello, sir, I'm Valencia Renee Summers, and, um, I'm looking for Aunt Pep- I mean, I'm looking for Pepper Potts. She's my aunt, sir," I stuttered nervously.

"You?" He laughed. "Pepper," he called.

Aunt Pep woke up with a start. "What happened?" she asked, looking around.

"Your, uh, _niece _showed up and was asking for you," he said. He obviously did not believe that I was in anyway related to her.

"Val?" she looked around. She stood up when she saw me.

"Val! Honey, what are you doing here?" she asked, hugging me.

"I… I couldn't live there anymore," I admitted.

From then on, it was a blur of months. Pepper took Dad to custody court and won. She adopted me. She got me to take some tests and pulled some strings, and suddenly I was a freshman from Alabama studying journalism at Harvard University.

The four years I was at Harvard, Tony came back, the Avengers happened, and Aunt Pep and Tony got engaged.

Then the really big bombshell dropped:

I fell in love.

Chapter 2

"Of course you can stay at our place," Pep said.

"But just until you get a job with a major newspaper," Tony said.

"Tony!" Pepper scolded. "You can stay as long as you need, sweetie," Pepper told me.

We were in the Stark Tower elevator, just after my college graduation. Tony wanted to buy me a big penthouse to live in, but I wouldn't take his money… yet. Living with Pepper and Tony was like living with two kids my age in a dorm. They were constantly bickering and kissing.

We stopped at the penthouse and –of course- a bunch of party guests popped out from behind Pepper and Tony's million dollar furniture, shouting, "Surprise!"

I smiled and waved as many people came up to me, giving me their congratulations.

I walked over to Tony's bar and told the bartender that I would love a martini. It wasn't like I could get drunk; the fire inside me burned it off in seconds.

Dr. Bruce Banner came up from behind me. Dr. Banner was one of Tony's best intellectual friends. The last couple of years, when I came over for Thanksgiving or Christmas, Dr. Banner would be there. He soon became like another uncle. "Surprise, college graduate!" he said, handing me a wrapped gift.

"Oh, Dr. Banner, you shouldn't have!" I said. I opened it and saw a beautiful amber necklace. The amber looked just like fire.

Bruce knew that I had fire powers, just like I knew that he turned into the Hulk. We respected each other and tried not to aggravate each other's powers. He definitely tried to aggravate mine more than I did his.

"Thank you so much!" I said, giving him a hug.

The emotion was too much for the antisocial doctor. "It was no big deal. I've got to use the men's room…I'll see you later," he said awkwardly, walking away.

I shrugged, left alone at the bar.

Another person slid in to the bar stool next to me. "One whiskey, please," he told the bartender.

He looked over at me. "Oh, happy college graduation, Val…is it?" he said. Although the words were sarcastic, I could tell in the guy's voice he meant it sincerely.

"Thanks. Um, yeah, um, I'm Val, Val Summers," I stuttered back to him. He had pretty blue eyes that a girl could get lost in and brownish-blonde hair that was perfectly parted. His arms were ripped with muscle; I could see that through his sports jacket.

He smiled. "I'm Steve Rogers. It's nice to meet the party girl," he said to me. Good God, his eyes looked pretty when he smiled. "What did you get your degree in?" he asked.

"My degree? Oh, uh, journalism," I said, blushing and looking away. What was I doing? I was never afraid to flirt before with guys. Poor Steve.

"What, um, did you get your degree in?" I asked stupidly.

He laughed. "The arts," he said. "It was… a little while ago."

Oh no! He is some forty year old married man looking for a little home wrecker! No!

I stole a glance at his left hand. No ring. But maybe he took it off?

He must have seen. "No, I'm not married. I'm just 26," he said.

I sighed. "Good," I said, "you had me worried there."

He laughed. "Where I'm from, I should already be married."

I sighed and rolled my eyes sarcastically. "Please, where I'm from I should already be the mom of three and married to my high school sweetheart," I said.

He laughed heartily. "Really? And you're what? 22?" he asked.

"Well…yes. But you aren't supposed to ask a lady her age!" I said, winking at him.

We hung out and talked for a while. I learned he was from Brooklyn and had worked with Tony on a few SHIELD missions.

We went out on the large balcony-patio that overlooked New York.

"You said you've worked with Tony? Are you an Avenger?" I asked him.

He had an uncomfortable look on his face. I learned later that he was thinking that he had lost me right then if he told me the truth. "Um…yes," he said.

I knew Clint (Hawkeye) and Thor and he was definitely not one of them.

He was Captain America, the cryogenically frozen super soldier from the 1940's.

"You're the captain, aren't you? The dude from the 40's?" I asked him, stunned. I was calculating his age. 90?!

"Yeah," he blushed. "I'm 90, if you were trying to figure it out."

I nodded, a little stunned. "Well, I've not been entirely honest either," I sighed.

His perfect eyebrows came together, confused. "What do you mean? Do you have a third ear or an eleventh toe?" he asked seriously.

I laughed. "No! I have a superpower, too," I said.

I lit my hand on fire.

"Woah!" he said, backing away.

I smiled. "It's inconvenient when I'm texting," I joked.

His face remained puzzled. "What's 'texting'?" he asked.

I mentally face palmed myself. "It's hard to explain," I said.

"Well, since you've showed your power, guess I should show you mine," he said.

He then picked me, a 5'8, 150 pound woman, up like I was nothing. He then put me back down. In my stilettos, it was a little hard to get my balance back after being put back down so abruptly. I wobbled around, trying to grab the railing for support. Instead, I flipped over the railing.

And I fell.

"CRRAAAPPPP!" I shouted.

Instincts kicked in.

My body caught on fire.

I instantly stopped falling….but I hadn't squashed into the pavement.

I was on fire, floating in the middle of the sky, right in front of the 20th floor of the Stark Tower.

I was also stark naked, but the fire covered what needed to be covered. I looked up at all the people on the penthouse level staring down to me.

"I'm okay!" I shouted up.

Pepper shouted back down, "Get up here right now!"

"Umm, tell everyone to go inside, and bring out a big blanket, please!" I said, blushing, but I don't think anyone could see it for the fire.

Tony, looking down, realized what the blanket was for, and started laughing really hard. Pepper smacked him. "Go get a blanket!" she yelled at him. "Everyone, go inside for a moment, please," Pepper said politely to the guests.

I thought to myself, _Fly up!_ I flew up slowly to the penthouse patio. By the time I got there, no one was on the patio and the big curtains Pep had bought a few months ago were drawn. I turned to face New York as I turned off my flame. I pulled on the blanket as fast as I could. "All clear!" I shouted. The curtains moved to reveal only Dr. Banner, Tony, Pepper, Steve, Thor and Clint and Natasha Barton on Tony's holographic computer, and a newly arrived man I didn't know.

I walked over to the door and let myself in. Pepper instantly moved over to cover me. "You can borrow one of my dresses," Pepper muttered. She blocked me all the way over to her bedroom, even though the blanket did more than a good job of shielding the goods. I stole a glance at Steve through the bedroom doorway. He was blushing and looked away until I shut the door.

Pep pulled out a pair of her sweatpants, her Maui Nix t-shirt, and one of Tony's New York Giants sweatshirts and threw them on the fancy bed.

"Who's the guy with the eye patch?" I asked her as I dressed.

"He's Nick Fury, the leader of SHIELD. The Avengers are all here to vote if you should be in. You are valuable as they need flyers," she said, turned away from me.

"That Steve guy? That's really cute? Why didn't you tell me he was Captain America when you saw me flirting with him?" I whisper scolded her, pulling my hair up in a ponytail with a hair tie. Whenever my head caught on fire, my eyes turned red and my hair became pencil straight, sometimes with black tips when I was on fire for a long time.

"He deserves a girl. He's a really sweet kid that is just… lost," she said, with this motherly look in her eyes. "Now get out there. Nick doesn't like to wait."

Pepper and I walked out of her room swiftly.

"I'm Nick Fury, leader of SHIELD," the eye patch guy greeted me with a handshake.

"Hi, I'm Val," I said back.

I went over to the couch and took a seat between Tony and Steve.

"Nice sweatshirt," Tony whispered. I rolled my eyes.

Steve scooted away slightly from me. I looked over at him, confused. Did he not like me anymore after I showed my clumsiness and had caught on fire? That would really suck.

"It's your eyes, Val, that are unsettling to him," Nick said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. This was an uncomfortable topic as the man only had one eye. I guess I looked uncomfortable because Tony was trying to stifle a chuckle.

"Well… they're red," Nick said.

"Oh," I nodded, relieved. "They'll go back to blue in a sec."

Nick continued on to tell me all about the Avengers defeating Loki blah blah blah.

Then he got to the good stuff.

"Who votes that Val should be inducted into the special team of Avengers?" Nick asked us.

Bruce raised his hand.

Clint raised his hand.

Thor raised his hand.

Natasha raised her hand.

Steve slowly raised his hand.

Tony didn't raise his hand.

"And Tony? Why do you say Val shouldn't be an Avenger?" Nick asked sarcastically.

"Well, Nick, Pepper and I care too much about the kid to let her risk her life unnecessarily. Being the fiancée to the aunt who adopted her makes you change the way you think about the kid," Tony said, winking at me. "It's not that I don't think she'll be good at it, I just don't think she should be one," Tony said.

"Well, unfortunately, Tony, the board has already voted her to join, so your vote is irrelevant. She is an Avenger as of now," Nick said.

"Wait! What about training? Hand-to-hand combat? She can't take a gun, but she can't just flame the enemy!" Pepper pleaded.

There was silence.

"I'll train her combat if she'll teach me culture, sir," Steve said to Nick.

"Alright, then," Nick said. "Have her trained and ready by the end of August. Same with you, Val," He walked to the elevator and left.

Tony, Pepper, and Bruce were talking in hushed voices in the corner. Steve looked over at me.

"We'll start training tomorrow morning. Do you have a guest bed here?" he asked.

Chapter 3

The next morning, I came down into the chamber that held Tony's Iron Man suits.

There was Steve, in a white shirt and cargo pants, punching a bag. I knocked on the door to get his attention.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," he said.

From then on, we spent the mornings training in karate and the afternoons training in Mariokarting.

I told him about different decades, starting with the rest of the 40's.

A few weeks went by and we became flirting more and more.

One afternoon, I was teaching him about dancing in the 1970's and he went over to the record player and took out the Beegees Hits record and put in one of his favorite Beatles records.

He turned on the record and I heard the song "Something" play.

He walked over to me and offered his hand. "Could I have this dance, miss?" he asked.

"Most certainly," I said.

I rested my hands on his neck and he rested his on my waist.

He leaned down to my ear and whispered along to the lyrics

"_Somewhere in her smile she knows, that I don't need no other lover, something in her style that shows me_…"

I kissed him right then, afraid he wouldn't kiss me back. That I was just a crazy, lovesick girl.

He did kiss me back though. It felt like electricity was shooting through my veins. This was nothing like kissing other guys. This was what kissing your soul mate was like.

I had kissed a couple of guys back in Jenkins. There were only two serious ones. My friend, Tag, had become my boyfriend when we were 14 and we would kiss in the backseat of his brother's car. I told myself it was sweet, and that I liked it, but really, it was more of a dare kiss than anything else. I broke up with him the summer we were 16, even though everyone thought we would get married one day.

Tag was so popular that everyone turned against me. So I got a job at a rock club that had ear bursting concerts and required full time staff. I fell in puppy love with a 17 year old senior named Spencer who loved rock and roll and was cute as heck. We kissed all the time, even though he told me repeatedly that, the day he turned 18, he was going to New York City to get a record deal. When he left that morning, he took with him my heart.

I dabbled in the boyfriend department once or twice in college, but nothing was serious. I had a few boys I would take to dances or parties, and we'd kiss good night, but that was it.

I was lost in the moment, kissing Steve. But then… Jarvis came over intercom and said, "Ahem. Mr. Rogers and Miss Summers, Master Tony is coming down here presently so I recommend you… put a stop to your… dancing before he sees as it may… _embarrass_ Miss Summers."

I rolled my eyes and blushed, telling Jarvis that it was okay and thanks for telling us.

I walked over to the record player and turned off the Beatles track, putting it away just as Tony walked in.

"Hello, kids," he said to us. "Jailbait," he turned to me.

I rolled my eyes at the inaccurate nickname. When I came to live with Pepper, Tony thought I was a prostitute. When Pepper told him that I was, in fact, her seventeen year old niece, he laughed at his mistake and since then called me "Jailbait".

"What is it?" I snapped, frustrated that he had interrupted Chris and I's… _dance_ to tease me.

"Hold it there, grumpy. All I wanted to tell you was that Pep and I are going to a gala tomorrow night and you should come because some famous editors should and will be there… editors looking for an already famous, young, pretty, and talented journalist to write in their papers. Editors looking for Tony Stark's money to fund his niece's work," Tony teased, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and squeezing them.

"I don't know," I said, squirming out of his arm.

Steve, who had been fiddling with something in the corner turned and faced me when he heard this. "You should go, Val. I…er, you know how much you want to work at a major newspaper. This could be a big chance for you," Steve encouraged.

I looked over Tony. "Do I have to have an escort?" I asked.

Tony looked up at Steve, back at me, winked, and said, "It's not required by the charity running it, but Pep's requiring it for you."

I gave him a death glare. "I'm gonna go, now, Val, but, um, may I remind you that, um, unfortunately, I am escorting your aunt, and, as much as I'd love to, I cannot take you too," Tony said, running for the stairs before I could give him a little burn.

Steve came over and put his hands on my shoulders. "I am dying to know who you will be asking to come with you!" he said in a feminine tone.

I laughed. "Steve, would you do me the honor…"

"Yes?" He asked, listening.

"Okay, smart alec. Would you do me the honor of dancing with me again?" I asked him.

He truly looked disappointed. He sighed and said, "I guess."

He walked sadly over to the record player and put on "Hey Jude" by the Beatles.

I laced my fingers around his neck and his laced around my hips.

"_Hey Jude_," I sang in his ear. "_Don't make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better-er-er_."

"_Remember to let her into your heart, then you can start to make it better_," Steve finished.

"Hey, Steve?" I whispered in his ear. I hoped it came across as sexy… not cheesy…when he heard it.

"Yeah, Val?" he whispered back.

"Will you go to the gala with me?" I whisper asked him.

"I guess," he whispered, obviously overjoyed.

"_Nananananana hey Jude_," he sang loudly and definitely not in harmony.

I laughed at him. "You're so crazy," I said.

"That's why you love me," he flirted, winking at me.


	2. Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7

Chapter 4

It was the day after the kiss and Pepper and I were getting ready for the gala in my bedroom.

As a 21st birthday present, Pepper updated my bedroom in Tony's condo from a nice room to a high-tech girl wonderfest. It had a girl version of Jarvis (Tony jokingly named her Siri) and Siri could sew outfits I saw online and make them. She could make shoes, had a giant catalog of makeups, and could paint manicures and pedicures.

The bed was once a normal queen, but now it is like a Temperpedic and moves. It also has speakers by the pillows for alarms, an iPod dock, and could massage your back. I liked the mini masseuse the best.

Tony and Pep knew how much I loved reading, so there were three floor to ceiling bookshelves. One shelf held all the books I wanted to keep forever and the other two held books that changed every couple weeks. By the window, there was a perfect nook to curl up and read in. An egg chair that hung from the ceiling and a futon were the only two sitting places. A white shag rug covered up the hard wood floor in front of the wall that held a fireplace and flat screen TV. The bathroom held a giant shower and even bigger bathtub.

I hated to admit it, but I did adore this room.

Pepper had been badgering me about Steve all day, so I finally caved in and told her about the dance and the training sessions and all that stuff. She was now quietly smiling, painting her fingernails a cranberry red to match her Siri-made dress.

"You know, after Tony came back from Iraq, we were a lot like you and Steve. Always close to touching, but never touching. After a while, we finally… touched. And it was a lot like what you just described when we first kissed. And let me tell you, after 3 years of multiple kisses a day, it never gets old. You are always going to want to be near him. Close to him." She pauses, searching my face seriously. Her face then melts into her age old smile. "One thing I've learned from you and Steve though, was how those magazines came up with rumors about us dating. You guys have looked stuck from the start."

I laugh as she tussles my hair. "Now let's pick out a dress," she said.

Between Siri, Pepper, and I, I have ended up wearing a beautiful, silvery gray gown that falls to my feet. It clenches at my waist with a black belt. My wavy blonde hair is pushed onto one shoulder and my eyes are rimmed in black charcoal.

All in all, I look gorgeous.

Pepper looks beautiful too, in a classy, adult way. Her crimson dress makes her brown eyes stand out and shine like chocolate-colored gems. Her red hair is pulled up in a twist. The dress wraps around her neck and comes down in a low (but not slutty low) v neck and clenches at the waist. It then flows down her hips and gracefully whiffs the floor.

It is tradition for when we go to a red carpet event that Tony and the gentleman escorting me (normally someone from the college or even Dr. Banner) don't look at Pepper and I until we come out. This originated from my first red carpet, where I shouted for them not to look because I needed to get something from the kitchen and was only in my robe. Tony thought I was kidding, but I wasn't, so he mistakenly looked as I ran by.

"Don't peek, Tony!" Pepper shouted.

"Yeah, Stark!" I added.

I heard his low chuckle as we walked down the hallway.

Tony looked at the two of us and smiled. He was used to seeing us this beautiful .He grabbed Peppeer and swooped her down for a kiss. "Tone," she said. "You're gonna smear my lipstick. Siri's gonna kill you!"

Tony pulled her back up and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. They headed for the elevator, arm in arm.

While watching them, I didn't notice Steve staring at me. He was wearing a traditional suit, black jacket, black pants, black tie, white shirt, black shoes. He looked incredibly sexy, the way the shirt stretched across his chest.

I blushed. "Do I look that bad?" I teased.

"No, um, I mean, um, it's just, um…. Wow." Steve was the one blushing now.

I smiled and grabbed his arm. "Ready to go, Gramps?" Tony called from the elevator. "Don't have a heart attack on us, Grandpa!"

Steve was still staring and smiling at me as we entered the elevator. I leaned into his tight chest.

"Might want to turn up your hearing aid, Grandpa," Tony muttered, gaining a giggle from Pepper.

Chapter 5

Loki was mad.

First off, he was mad at that ridiculous, insolent fool Tony Stark and his ragtag gang of Avengers. They had got him imprisoned for eternity at home in Asgard, and had knocked him out of Oden's good graces.

Second, he was mad at the Icemen. They had abandoned him in his time of need! His hour of powerlessness! He swore revenge.

Third, and finally, he was mad at Thor. He didn't really have a main reason; Thor was just always sucking up to Oden and shit. Loki was tired of it.

So that was why he was escaping his prison.

It was quite easy, really. All it took was a simple flick of the wrist and he looked just like the guards.

"Help! Help! Loki has escaped!" He cried to the fools that were considered "Asgard's Finest Guardians" to Oden.

Three of the imbeciles came over and unlocked the door, searching the room for Loki.

Loki the guard walked out of the room, shutting and locking the door after him.

"Halt! Halt! Sir! Guard! What is the intention of this?" one of the imprisoned guards called to him.

Loki ignored the guard's call as he walked out of the prison, letting loose other creatures as he went.

He had one place to go:

The Land of the Hydra.

Loki walked, disguised, through the streets of Asgard, looking at the imbeciles as they passed. By the time the year was up, he would have all of them under his control (and the rest of the universe.)

He walked all the way to the path to the Gates Keeper.

A few Asgardian months before, Loki had destroyed the gates to other galaxies by sending a giant metal monster after Thor (Thor pulverized it.) Now, disguised as a guard, he snuck in under the nose of the Apprentice Gates Keeper.

The boy, about 13, had long blonde hair and blue eyes. He was tall, too, and muscular. The brat, Loki realized, reminded him of Thor.

"Where do you wish to venture to, sir Guard?" the boy asked Loki, shaking him from his dream.

"The land of the Hydra," Loki said snootily. This boy was taking up too much time; Ender was expecting him.

The boy gave him an odd look. "Well, go on now!" Loki ordered.

The boy shrugged and pulled the switch.

Loki traveled through the ever familiar wormhole to meet Ender.

Asgard folklore told a tale that, whoever dared to go to Hydra and survive the Hydra ruler, Ender, they would have the Hydra army backing them. The Hydra were a special type of creature; they could shift form into any form they wished. The only downside of this was the fact that the Hydras' actual bodies were made of sand. This gave them no real selves. The story goes that, whoever goes to meet with Ender will get the army if they agree to find bodies for the sand Hydras. Not everyone could enter the land of the Hydra. Ender only let certain people, with potential, in.

Loki had bodies for the sand Hydras:

Human ones.

He had it all planned out: he would first venture to the land of the Hydra, then he would tell Ender about the Earth and conquering it and the bodies, then he would travel to Earth with the army and kill the Avengers…no, let the sand fill their bodies slowly, killing them softly.

Loki smiled when he appeared in the land of the Hydra.

He walked through the empty , rocklike planet of Hydran and wondered where everyone was.

"Hello?" He called aloud. "Ender?"

Instantly, the pile he had assumed was just dust rose and shaped itself into the clone of… who could have guessed. The ever talking Tony Stark.

"Loki of Asgard," Ender/Tony said in a loud, unearthly voice.

Loki looked at Ender. "Yes?" He asked in a timid, too earthly voice.

"We accept your proposition. Your idea. Who must this army kill?" Ender asked, slowly dividing into more and more Tony Starks.

"The Avengers, first. Then, S.H.I.E.L.D. Maybe after that, the world rulers. I just want the first two killed," Loki said to the multitude of Tony Starks who were slowly morphing into the different Avengers.

Ender/ Tony turned to his army of Avengers. "We must go to Earth. Kill the hundreds of SHIELD members and the seven Avengers," he ordered.

"Wait, excuse me, a seventh Avenger? There's just six," Loki corrected.

Ender/Tony shot him a look from his sandy black eyes. "Seven. Thor of Asgard, Anthony Stark, Steven Rogers, Bruce Bannner, Clint and Natasha Barton, and Valencia Summers. Seven. Please learn to count, Loki of Asgard," the lord of the Hydras said to him. It reminded Loki of the time Tony had humiliated him. Calm down, Loki told himself. You'll get him. We just need to figure out who this Valencia Summers is.

Chapter 6

We arrived at the gala in a limo.

It was considered a red carpet as so many celebrities would be attending. Tony, Pepper, and I knew the drill: smile in the direction of the photographers, wait a moment, walk down the carpet, strike a pose, and repeat until you got inside.

Steve, however, did not.

He didn't look it outwardly, but as he held my arm, I could feel it shaking a bit, showing he felt a bit nervous or scared.

We walked up to the carpet, just after Pepper and Tony.

"Steve," I whispered, still smiling for the blinding flashes of light.

"Yes?" he asked as we walked down a spot.

"Are you nervous?" I asked as we smiled.

"No," he said as we walked to another set of cameras.

Flash, flash, flash.

"I'm just excited," he said as we walked down to the final spot.

"I see," I said as I smiled.

_"Give us a kiss, Val, baby!" _a photographer called.

The paparazzi always called this at the end, but I never kissed my escort. I knew, from Tony's publicist, that to kiss someone starts rumors you are together, and then not to be seen with them again starts rumors that you are a slut.

When you kiss someone at a photo op, you're stuck with them.

That's why I kissed Steve, long and hard.

The cameras blinded us while we locked lips, trying to capture every detail of Tony Stark's niece and her beau.

We ended the kiss, I gave the cameras a wink, and we walked inside the museum amid the bright flashes of light, taking pictures of another celebrity.

Steve and I found Pep and Tony waiting just inside the giant observatory, talking to their friends. Steve introduced himself to them. "Well, did you survive?" Gina, Pepper's friend whose husband was hosting the gala, asked Steve.

He nodded, laughing. "I guess," he shrugged.

I squeezed his arm. "I think you did a good job. You're going to be all over the tabloids for the next week or so," I joked.

Everyone laughed, but I could tell he didn't get it. "Well, let's go get some drinks," Tony suggested.

As we walked over to the bar, Steve murmured to me, "Tabloid?"

"It's like a magazine that's full of stories on celebrities," I explained.

He nodded, thinking this over.

We went up to the bar, Tony and Pepper having already gone off to dance a waltz. I could see them, so happily in love. Pepper was laughing at something Tony said. He dipped her low to the floor, pulling her up into a kiss.

I turned my eyes back to the bar, Steve's hand on my waist. I looked up into his eyes, and he leaned down near to my ear, whispering, "This is like the first time we met."

I giggled, and was about to add something else, but the waiting bartender sighed, having already asked us our drink choice.

"Oh, um, I'll have a martini and he'll have a whiskey, sir," I ordered.

While the man fixed our drinks, I heard the familiar first notes of "Something" by the Beatles.

"Steve," I said to him, as he grabbed our drinks. "Let's go dance."

He smiled, hearing the tune. He sat our drinks down on the table reserved for Tony and Pepper and we went out onto the dance floor.

I laced my fingers around his neck. I felt his clasp at my hips.

I rested my head on his shoulder as he crooned the lyrics in my ear.

"I never really got the chance to tell you, Val," he said.

"Tell me what?" I asked.

"How beautiful you look," He sighed.

I thought I picked up on something under his breath, something about love, but I couldn't be certain.

The song morphed into the next and we danced the night away in each other's arms.

Chapter 7

We got back into the limo at about 12:40 or so. Pep and Tony were hammered. As we drove home, they revolved in a circle: laughing, crying, and then passionately kissing.

It was really awkward for Steve and I, who couldn't get hammered no matter how hard we tried.

I let Pepper slump up against me as we rode up the elevator to the penthouse. Tony tried to slump against me, but with both the drunkards lying against me and trying to kiss each other all the damn time, it didn't work, so Tony had to lean up against a much too kind Steve.

We stopped off at the penthouse, both Pepper and Tony laughing. We pushed them out of the elevator gently.

While Pepper stumbled off, Tony turned right back around. "Don't you be puh- puh- pushing me around, boy! Respect me and my… uh… fiancée! And my nephew!" He yelled at Steve, smacking him. Pepper laughed in the back ground, similar to my mom's drunken giggle.

I flinched, thinking of my parents. Steve noticed and picked Tony up and carried him into the bedroom, where Pepper already lay on the bed. The door shut and you could hear- YUCK!- noises similar to those of animals coming from the room.

"Val," Steve asked me, putting both hands on my shoulders. He inspected my face. "Do you … would you want to come and… stay over… at my apartment?" He asked nervously.

I wanted to, but I didn't want to. What would Pepper say when she recovered from her hangover? But it's not like I could stay here. Not with the drunkness reminding me of Mom and Dad and the-gulp- animal sounds.

"I'll go," I said. "Let me get my stuff."

Steve smiled, like that was the best news he'd heard all day. "Great!" He said.

I went into my room, packing a duffel bag with an oversized tee for pajamas and clothes for tomorrow, along with some underwear and shampoo.

I came out with the bag. "I'm ready," I said with a smile.

"Let's go," he said, smiling back.

I walked into Steve's tiny apartment.

"It's not that grand, or anything," he said, flicking on the lights.

It was a giant white room, with a balcony across from me. To my left, there was a tiny Formica counter kitchen with a little fridge and oven and sink. To my right was a dingy plastic table with fold up chairs. In front of me, a little couch stood in front of a black and white retro television. Just behind the couch, there was a private little room. I assumed it was the bedroom and that the bathroom was somewhere inside.

I loved it.

"Steve, this is perfect!" I said, throwing my duffel bag on the floor. I turned around and looked at him, still in his tux, at the door. God, he was gorgeous. His blonde-brown hair was tussled and a little messy, his bowtie untied. He looked absolutely sexy.

He smiles at me, blushing. "Well, there's not much you can buy with $20,000 of 1940's money, but I'm glad you like it," he says.

I pick up my duffel bag and come close to him… and those blue eyes… and those big lips… like I'm going to kiss him. Catching myself, I quickly cover up my slip, saying, "I'm going to put on my pajamas."

He stares down, into my eyes the whole time. "The bathroom's in there." He points to where I suspected the bathroom and bedroom were.

"Thanks," I whisper, trying to come across as sexy.

I walk into his bedroom, shutting the door after me. I kick off my heels, pull down my dress. As I pull on my giant night gown tee shirt, I study the room.

It's a sand colored room, with a full sized bed in the middle. The bed has a blue bedspread with tan stripes the color of the walls. A little armoire sits in the corner, three photographs on top of it. I walk over to the photos, inspecting them. One is a black and white picture of a teenaged couple, a caption reading _Just Married _above their heads. From what I can tell, the girl has curly dark hair and light eyes, with a clear complexion. The boy looks just like Steve, but with dark brown eyes. Slowly, I gather that this is a wedding picture… of Steve's parents! Stunned, I move onto the next picture. It is small, and more a sepia than black and white picture. The woman in it is beautiful, with short, dark curls and big, red lips. Her dark eyes look beautiful in proportion with her face. She is a beautiful girl. I imagine she is either related to Steve or a sweetheart of his. I laugh at this. At least I don't have any alive competition for Steve's heart. I move onto the third picture. It is… of Steve and I! I recognize it, though. It was the day we went to the Empire State Building together, two weeks ago. It's one of those Polaroid print out photos. It was Steve and I's first time at the Empire State Building, so we decided to commemorate it with a photo.

After inspecting the photos and looking in the bathroom, I saunter back into the living room to find Steve, in an undershirt and boxers, eating Ben and Jerry's and watching a _Superman_ movie.

"Hey," I say, sitting down next to him on the couch.

"Hey," he says, a mouth full of ice cream. "I brouf you a spoom, if you wan some." He offers me a spoon and gestures to the ice cream.

I smile and shake my head. "No, thanks," I say.

He smiles back, mouth full of vanilla ice cream. I guffaw at his silly face, causing him to laugh too. After we stop giggling, he sets his Ben and Jerry's carton down on the foldable coffee table and leans into the couch, watching the movie. I snuggle in closer to him, resting my head on his chest with his arm around my shoulders, rubbing smooth patterns with his thumb on my hip.

Lois Lane was just testing her Clark Kent is Superman theory by jumping in to Niagara Falls when Steve asks me, "Why is she so in love with Superman? She doesn't even know who he really is or what he does or where he lives or what his favorite color is."

I consider this for a moment, then turn my head up to face his. "Maybe it's because," I say, "she believes in love at first sight."

His lips crush against mine, making me feel like… like I was soaring. I kiss him back, hungry for more. I can feel my temperature slowly rising and I struggle to keep it under control. It would do no good for me to catch Steve on fire.

I kiss him hard and he does the same. His hand feels so cool on my hot skin. It traces down my spine, making me want him more than ever. All the days of training and just barely touching and flirting and kissing and dancing and laughing have come down to this.

After a while, he slips one hand under my knees and one under my shoulders and picks me up, carrying me into the bedroom.

I can feel his excitement as he slips me into the bed. He continues kissing me all the way, and I get breathless, kissing him for so long it hurts. He lies down next to me, and I reach and try to pull off his shirt when he stops me.

"I… gasp… love ….gasp…you….Valencia," he sputters. "But you need….gasp….to cool….gasp…down."

I realize that I am probably burning him, but not on fire. It's kind of like grabbing a glowing ember and holding it. And having it kiss you.

I cool myself down, saying to him, softly, "I'm… I'm so sorry, Steve. I… I didn't mean to hurt you."

I roll over, softly crying. I can't do anything right. The one time I love one person I can't keep my fire under control enough to kiss him.

"Hey," Steve says. "Hey, Val," he pulls me over, and sees me crying. "Oh, Val," he says. "Val, you weren't hurting me. It was just a little uncomfortable, that's all."

He pulls me close, rubbing circles with his hand on my back. I curl up into him. "I'm sorry," I whisper, once I'm done crying.

"It's okay," he whispers back.

He rubs and soothes me to the point where I am almost asleep, and then he kisses me, softly, an echo of the hot passion that had occurred an hour or so ago. I kiss him back, intensifying it. He returns it with a soft peck, whispering in my ear, "Let's just sleep."

And so I fall asleep gently in his arms, diving into the best sleep I had had in a long time.

I awake a few hours later, early in the morning. I look over for Steve, but instead find an empty bedside. I hear the sounds of a shower in the bathroom. The shower turns off.

The bathroom door opens, blinding me with the light and vapor. There is glorious Steve, with his hair wet with droplets of water and steam. His chest is so muscular, so tight and taut. The towel tied at his waist only covers a bit, so I can see his legs match his chest. He notices me awake, and smiles.

"Hey," he says, his voice gruff with sleep.

"Hey," I say back.

He sits down onto the bed, letting me kiss him without question.

Before long my nightgown comes off, and he plays with my bra and panties. I laugh when he can't seem to figure out my lacy bra. He laughs as I tug away at his towel. He kisses me down my neck, down my chest, and all over. We become one in the mist and vapor, melting together over and over again. I can't help the happy moans that escape my lips when he kisses me. I love him for everything he does, everything he is, everything he was, every mistake he makes, and all the good things he does too.

At the end, all I know is

I

Love

Steven

Rogers

With

All

My

Soul.


	3. Chapters 8,9,10, and 11

Author's note: Sorry I haven't updated lately; I was on vacay for the holidays. Enjoy! J

Chapter 8

I woke up later, in the afternoon.

Even though I was fully awake, I didn't want to open my eyes. I wanted to keep the feeling of bliss I was feeling forever.

But, eventually, I opened my eyes.

I looked up at the ceiling, smiling. I looked over to smile at Steve… but he wasn't there.

I sat up in bed, blushing because I was naked, and called out, "Steve?"

No answer. I pulled on my tee shirt that was tossed to the ground and attempted to put on my panties, but they were… ah… torn into three pieces. I giggled and shook my head at the ripped panties, throwing them into my duffle bag. I pulled another pair of panties and my brush. After pulling on the underwear, I went into the bathroom to brush my knotty hair. I looked in the mirror and saw somebody else there. She was smiling, happy, with no bags and very little shadows under her eyes. Her blue eyes were happy for the first time in ages. I pulled my hair up into a twist and washed my face from the blurred makeup on it. I brushed my teeth for a moment and then I walked out of the bathroom and into the living room-kitchen-dining room area.

"Steve?" I called out.

"Val?" He called back from his little patio. I walked out onto it and saw that it had a spectacular view of the skyline. It was overlooking the water and I could see the Statue of Liberty and Stark Tower in the distance.

I looked over at Steve, who was wearing a tee and jeans, leaning back on a swinging patio couch, drinking a glass of milk.

"You owe me a pair of panties, you know," I scolded.

He laughed, spewing milk everywhere. "Really?" he asked. "Then I guess I owe you a bra, too."

I shook my head, laughing at him. He patted the seat next to him, gesturing for me to sit down. I sat down right next to him, snuggling my head on his shoulder. He looked out at the city, rubbing circles into my side with his thumb. I inspected the skin on his arms and… oh, no…. found a burn mark. I instantly pulled away from him.

"What? What is it, Val?" Steve asked, puzzled.

"Look at your arm, Steve," I said, struggling not to cry or shout. "Why did you lie to me?"

He glanced down it and saw the burn mark. "Oh, the burn mark," he said, still puzzled. Then it clicked.  
"Val, that wasn't you! I've had that for ages… it's a remainder from when I was a kid," Steve said.

I started crying with relief. "Val," Steve said softly, "Val, don't cry. It's not your fault, Val." He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me close. I put my face on his chest, breathing in the wonderful scent of him.

"Val," Steve said softly, once my sobs had quieted down to a trickle. "If something is wrong, please tell me. If you are afraid you are going to hurt me, you aren't. It hurts me to see you crying because of me more than anything."

"I'm… I'm not crying about you," I stuttered. "I…it's…I'm afraid I'll…I'll hurt you and…. and then you'll…you'll never love me."

"Val!" he shouted, surprised. "Don't even…where did you… Val, I only told you that you were hot last night was because I didn't want you to burn down the bed or my apartment. You didn't hurt me at all! You have to remember that, under this, I am a super soldier."

I laughed softly. "It's just… I had this guy once… and my dad told me that I'd better not do him or he'll catch on fire because I can't control myself," I admitted.

Steve's blue eyes turned cold with anger. "Steve," I asked. "Are you…are you mad at me?"

They instantly turned warm again. "No," he said. "I just wish you could have… had a better… childhood."

I smiled weakly. "Well, can't change that can we?" I weakly joked.

"No," he said. And then, seeing how sad I was, he pulled me close to him and we rocked back and forth in the chair a while, in silence. We sat there for a while until Steve whispered in my ear, "Valencia? We have to go back to the Tower now."

I nodded. Reluctantly getting up, I changed, grabbed my stuff, and Steve and I left.

Chapter 9

We pulled back up at Stark Tower on Steve's motorcycle, an old 1944 Indian. I unstrapped my duffel from the back of the bike and pulled out my keychain to unlock the elevator that shot straight up to Tony and Pep's penthouse.

"Oh, Val," Steve said, noting my keychain. "Here's a key to my apartment, you know, in case you need to, uh, get in there." He handed me a small bronze key that had his apartment number on it.

"Thanks," I smiled and we walked into the building hand in hand.

~A few moments later~

We walked into the apartment.

I was shocked to see Pepper, who had been so stoned last night that she couldn't walk, fully dressed and made up and cleaning the pent. She was eating a chocolate jelly donut. Yuck. Tony was drinking a cup of coffee and looked a little slow.

"Hi guys! Val, there's a dress on the bed for you. Put it on and some make up. Steve, there's a tuxedo on yours, please put it on and… do whatever you need to do. We are having a wedding shower as the wedding is in 12 days."

I had totally forgotten! I was her maid of honor, so I had certain requirements… but she hadn't totally gotten her list of bridesmaids together. "Pep?" I asked timidly.

"What?" She asked as she dusted.

"Who are the bridesmaids?"

She paused for a moment. "Well, there's your aunts Jen Potts, Kate Tarp, Trina Leon, and Helen Kingsley and my best friend from grade and high school, Bridget Thatcher, and… um… well, I asked your mother but she said… no."

"Wait, you know where Mom- I mean D_aphne_- is?! Why didn't you… well..." I sighed. "Where is she?"

"Well, she's still working in Vegas as a prostitute and she just got divorced for the third time. Her name now is Daphne Corvettey, I think, but her professional name is Daphne Triple X."

Tony and I burst out laughing. "Triple X?"

"Yes. Don't be so critical; she probably didn't choose it," Pepper scolded seriously.

I laugh cruelly. "Yes, and pigs fly and I'm a peasant," Tony says.

Pepper gives him a death glare. "Stop it, now."

I turn and walk down the hall to my room when Steve comes out of his room looking oh-so sexy in his tux. He grabs my waist with one arm, gives me a kiss, and walks out to the living room. As I shut my door, I hear him plop down next to Tony and start talking to him.

Smiling, I turn to face my bed. Laying out on it is a beautiful, sparkling, champagne colored dress. The dress has an almost off the shoulder neckline that is bunched up at the top. The dress clenches at my waist, puffing out in a full skirt that has innards made of white tool and an outer layer made of golden-white silk. The skirt stops mid shin, leaving room for my shoes, which are the same shade of white as the shoes. I notice a pearl choker on the side that will look wonderful with the shoes. The whole outfit is reminiscent of the 1950's and 60's, like something off of Mad Men.

I have just pulled on my dress when someone knocks on the door. "One sec," I call.

I hobble over to the door and ask, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Pepper, and I NEED to come in," Pepper says

I open the door and let her in. She plops down onto my couch, smiling. "So how did it go?"

"How did what go?" I ask, avoiding her question by pulling on my shoes.

"Last night, when you stayed over at Steve's. I wasn't so stoned that I didn't notice you leaving, Val," Pep said.

"Yeah, okay," I mutter to my shoes.

"So… did you _hm hmm?_ Or did you just 'sleep'?" Pepper winked.

"Pep!" I shouted, blushing.

"What? It's a question," Pep says, teasing me.

"Alright, yes, we did hm hmmm, okay, nosy rosy?" I say.

She giggles naughtily. "Was it sweet or boring or annoying or good or… what?"

I turn bright red. "Sweet, I guess," I mutter facing my mirror. I can't help but think about how I almost burnt him.

She notices my face. "Did something happen?" She asks seriously.

"No, it's just… I was just… afraid… of burning him," I whisper to myself.

"Sweetie," Pepper said, hugging me. "You can't burn him, he's a super soldier. He can survive a little fire, just not an explosion."

I smile to please her. "Okay," I shrug. "Go get dressed," I order her.

She smiles as she walks out the door.

Chapter 10

I finished getting ready and open my door to step out into the hallway.

The people, executives of Stark Industries and friends of Tony and Pepper, approach me, smiling, shake my hand, pat my back, ask about my life, etc. After thirty minutes of this (but it seems longer) I finally find Steve standing in a corner with a glass of whiskey in his hand. He looks lost, like he is thinking about something that requires his full attention.

I sneak up behind him and wind my arm around his waist. "Hey," I say in his ear.

He smiles, shaking himself from his daydream. "Hey yourself," he says back, pulling me around to face him. He stares me up and down. "Wow," he says. "Pepper did a good job."

"Thank you very much," I say. "That's only the fifty millionth time I've heard that tonight."

He laughs. "What, did you run into Tony's friends?"

"Yes, and that's not even the half of it!" I say loudly. Noticing people staring, I change my tone to a whisper. "Look at all these business cards and numbers I got! It's going to take weeks to get them out of my clutch!" My clutch handbag was overflowing with business cards for bankers, old men's cell phone numbers, phone numbers for cafes and places to buy a yacht.

Steve and I talked for a while in the corner, laughing and smiling at each other.

"I need to get another whiskey," Steve says, trying to stop laughing.

"No, I'll go get it. I need a martini anyway," I say, smiling.

While I was at the bar, I couldn't help but notice a tramp waltz up to Steve, bust out, and start talking to him. Her jet black hair was in soft waves down her shoulders and back and she wore a tight black leather dress. She had tan skin that I hated to say looked naturally tan. Her legs went on for miles and so did her bust! She was the symbol of tramphood!

I caught myself feeling envious of the tramp. But why should I? Steve loved me, and only me. But, thankfully, the bartender handed me the drinks and noticed me staring angrily at the woman talking to Steve.

"Don't worry about it, girl," she said in a thick New Yorker accent. "Just get over there and tell her to leave."

I smiled at her. "Thanks," I say to her.

"No prob," she says, already moving onto another customer.

I walk over to Steve, who was not paying much attention to Tramplina.

"So, you know, I just," she was pouting.

"Here's your whiskey, babe," I handed him the glass. He gave me a relieved look.

"Steve, who's this?" She says, her voice tinted with annoyance.

"This is my girlfriend. Val Summers, meet Julia… I'm sorry, what was your last name?" Steve introduced me, wrapping his arm around me.

"Julia Lopez. Nice to meet you, Val…. Which executive's daughter are you?" Julia says a little too perkily.

"Oh, I'm Tony Stark's niece," I said.

A silence pregnant with venom hung in the air.

"Well, uh, it was really nice talking to you… Julie. Enjoy the party," Steve said, wrapping his arm around my waist as he turned me to leave.

Once we got out of her hearing range, Steve looked at me. "I'm sorry," he says. "The second you left she pounced on me."

I shrug. "It's okay. No prob."

We talk a little and talk to some friends and executives, schmoozing around. Finally, after a few hours, Steve was obviously ready to go.

"Hey, are you ready to head out?" I ask him.

He nods yes.

"Okay, um, go wait in my room… I'll tell Pepper we're headed out," I tell him.

"Okay," He says, giving me a quick kiss as he walked off to my room.

I trudged through the sea of people, trying to find Pepper with no luck. After about ten minutes of this, I pulled out my phone and texted Pepper that we were leaving. She'd find the text eventually.

I walked back down the hallway and opened the door to my room to find…

Steve and Slut

Kissing

In

My

Room.

"What the hell?" I yell. "Get the hell out of here, bitch!"

"It's Julia," She says, grabbing her sling back heels and leaving.

"Val, I can explain, please, Val," Steve starts to say.

"NO! I DON'T want to hear your BS! Get the hell out of here, Steve! NOW!" I yell at him.

"But-"

"GET OUT! We are THROUGH! DONE! FINISHED!" I yell in his face.

I feel myself catching fire and crying at the same time.

He stands there, looking broken. "OUT!" I point at the door.

He slowly walks out the door, stopping at the doorway.

I collapse onto my knees, kneeling. "Just go," I whisper, sobbing.

He nods and walks out the door, politely shutting it behind him.

I cry alone.

Chapter 11

A few days go by and I sit there crying all the time. Pep and Tony know why I'm crying as Steve called them to try to talk to me.

He's called me 65 times, texted me 43 times, and emailed me 54 times. He tried to Skype me 53 times and has sat outside in the parking lot requesting to see me.

I can't see him. It hurts too much. The first day after the party I just cried. The second day, I threw everything he gave me in a bag and threw it in the recesses of my closet. The third day, which was yesterday, I caught fire and couldn't stop unless I sat in the shower, which just made me cry again because I remembered a few nights before.

Today, I woke up in the shower. I got up and laid down in my bed.

Now it is nighttime and all I can think about is Steve. I crave him near me, not sexually, just as my friend. I will be half asleep and reach for my phone to text him to come over, but when I turn on my phone I see the missed messages and turn it off.

I finally can't take it anymore, so I reach for my phone and play all the messages.

The first 20 consist of "Val, I love you, I'm sorry. Call me."

The next 30 consist of "Val, I love you, I'm so, so, so, so sorry. Please forgive me. Please call me."

The next ten consist of a gruff, after-crying voice saying, "Val, I love you so much. Please forgive me and call me back."

The next four, some of the most recent messages, say "Call me please," in a weak, tired voice that I have never heard Steve use.

The most recent message, sent about an hour and a half ago, says this, "Okay, Val, I've determined that you are not willing to text, call, email, Skype, or see me right now, so this is what I'm going to do. I love you too much to let you go so easily, so here is the truth. I was sitting in your room when Julie came in there. She started talking me up and she sat down next to me, getting closer and closer and closer until I told her to stop, that I didn't like her that way, and that she should go. Then she pulled me up, leaving bruises on my arm, and pulled me into a kiss. I tried to pull away, but she held fast. Her hands were so tight on my forearms that no blood was circulating. Then you came in, yelled at me, at her, and kicked me out. Pepper and Tony say that you have been crying and crying and sleeping the whole time and that's essentially what I've been doing too. I miss you and I love you, Val." The phone grew silent. "I need you, Val. Bad."

The phone message ends with a BEEP. So does my sorrow.

Oh, I feel so stupid, so mean, so dumb. Of course he'd never do that.

I walk out of my room and head to the elevator to go to Steve's crappy little apartment, to say I was sorry, when the Avengers Alarm goes off.

"Alert. Alert," Jarvis says.

Tony walks out of his bedroom. "Good to see you out and about, kiddo," he says, trying to make it sound like a tease.

We go down to the garage/ Iron Man suit storage room, where Steve and I trained.

"Tony?" I ask. "What am I to wear?"

He stares at me, like I'm stupid. "Oh," he realizes. "I didn't show you it."

He presses a button and the wall folds back to reveal a panel that has a grayish black outfit on it.

"Well, go put it on over there!" Tony says, gesturing to the wall as he heads up the stairs to put on his suit.

I pull on the outfit and inspect myself in the shiny metal wall.

The outfit covers my neck, arms, legs, and most every body part. It has a turtleneck that falls into two long sleeves. The shirt tucks into a pair of black, high-waisted pants. A pair of gray combat boots rest on my feet. A pair of black aviators cover my eyes, also cleverly disguising the upper part of my face. I pin a little black pin I found on the ground over my breast. It has the A from the Stark Industries logo cut into it and it looks really cool with my outfit.

I sprint for the stairs and run up them, not wanting to miss Tony leaving.

"Tony!" I shout when I step onto the patio.

"Yes?" He asks me, fully suited up.

"Is this fabric fireproof?" I ask.

He gives me an are-you-for-real look. "Yes."

"Great."

He flies off the patio, up and then back down to wait for me.

I run toward the patio edge and feel the ground give way to air as I begin freefalling over Manhattan. The rush of falling is great; I can understand why adrenaline junkies are addicted to adrenaline. I catch fire and fly up in an ark to meet Tony. As I fly above the patio, I can see in the windows that Pepper is worried. I give her a wave.

"Where are we going?" I ask Tony, only my lower arms and legs flaming.

"The… no…. okay… sorry, what was that?" he asks me.

"WHERE ARE WE GOING?" I yell, using arm motions.

"Oh, sorry. Um, we're going to that museum that the gala was just held at. You know, the one that just opened," he says.

"The New York Museum of Aquatic and Nautical Sciences, or Nymans," I explain.

"Yeah, that place. There's reports of… no, I'll tell you while we're going there. Come on," Tony says, already flying away.

I burn up to catch up.

"Loki's holding some hostages with apparent shape shifter henchmen? Thor will know what they are." Tony says.

"LOKI LOOKS LIKE…." I yell into the wind. The speed we travel at whips the sound behind me.

"He has long black hair, blue eyes, strange hat. Doesn't look like Thor."

"OKAY… WHY DOES HE WANT EARTH?"

"Oh, just for universal domination."

"AND WHY SHAPESHIFTERS?"

"I don't know yet, and, anyway, we're here."

We descend to the ground, where Thor, Natasha, Clint, and Bruce stand waiting.

"What's the game plan, Stark?" Clint asks.

"Clint, you'll go to the upper story and try to shoot as many of the henchman as you can. Bruce, you take care of Loki. Tasha and Val, you two will fight henchman and free hostages with me," Tony explains.

"One question: where's Rogers?" Natasha asks, glancing at me expectantly.

"Don't know, don't care," Tony covers. "Let's move out!"

Natasha, Tony, and I move in through the front door. Tasha pulls out her gun and holds it protectively. Tony is listening to something Jarvis is saying. I'm letting my fists stay aflame, in case I should need to throw fireballs at anyone. From where I'm standing, I can see Clint at his assigned point.

Suddenly, Pepper is in front of me. "Val!" She says, reaching out to hug me.

I avoid her embrace. "What are you doing here Pepper?" I ask her, whispering.

Tony hears me and turns. "Pepper? That's not…" He looks at me. "Shoot her now!"

I throw a fireball at the enclosing "Pepper". She dissolves into ash, which I step over.

I hear Natasha talking to something. "Clint, get in your position!" She says. I look over and see "Clint" standing in front of her. I look up, at Clint's position to shoot, and he still stands there.

"Tasha, shoot him now!" I shout to her. She instinctually shoots before she realizes who she is shooting.

"Clint!" She cries out, but it's not him. The bullet goes through "Clint", revealing his sand insides. The insides weave back together.

"It didn't work!" She looks over at me, and for the first time I see terror in the ever calm Natasha.

I throw a fireball at him and he dissolves into ash.

Meanwhile, a shapeshifter is disguised as a hooker in front of Tony and I realize it is the same hooker that kissed Steve. I keep that in mind as I watch Tony throw a light bolt from his palm, turning "Julie" into ash.

We begin fighting more and more of them as we get closer and closer to the center of the room. In the exact middle of the room is a pool that shows how long it might take a penny to fall to the sea floor. We soon are surrounding the pool, no more space to back up to. I am throwing fireballs rapidly at the images of people I once knew or know now.

I am struggling to not fall into the water when I see one shapeshifter that stops my heart.

A projection of Mom.

The shapeshifter notices my stopping and takes the advantage. It runs up and pushes me, head first, into the pool.

I realize too late that the water is not really water, but the shapeshifters disguised _as_ water. They push me down, surrounding me like a vice and every time I struggle, they get tighter and tighter around me.

So I let go.

I notice vacantly that I am still on fire in the shapeshifter water, but weakly, not as thick a flame. I start thinking about the people who will miss me.

Pepper.

Tony.

My three friends from college.

Possibly Dad, if he is sober enough to think about me.

Possibly Mom.

Dr. Banner and the other Avengers.

I think about other Avengers.

Clint

Natasha

Thor

Steve.

I remember Steve. I feel so sad, but it's a distant sadness, like somebody else is sad. I also feel a vague burning in my lungs, like I need to breathe. I go to take a breath, but then laugh aloud because I am underwater and can't breathe.

I waste my last bit of oxygen on laughter, and I know I'm about to drown.

Then I start thinking about Steve again.

His face dances across my vision.

It's nice, I think, to think about your loved ones in your last moments.

And then I close my eyes to die.

But somebody shakes me.

I open one eye. What?  
I open the other. It's still there!

Steve, Steve is here to take me to Heaven! He's grabbing my arm and pulling me up to Heaven! We're flying back up to Heaven!

We fly out of the water… but not to Heaven. The air burns my lungs so badly I stop trying to breathe.

"Val! Don't leave me, Val! Come on, Val! Please, I know you hate me but I still love you! Val!" Somebody cries in the distance.

I feel my chest moving up and down against my will. Why am I breathing? It hurts so bad.

"VAL! VALENCIA MARIE SUMMERS! YOU WILL NOT DIE ON ME YOU HEAR? IT WON'T HAPPEN! I WON'T LET YOU GO SO EASY!" the same person yells. I vaguely recall that this person might be yelling at me.

I feel something on my mouth and then my chest moves up and down again.

"Please, Val. PLEASE don't die on me!"

Mouth, chest moves.

"Tony, get over here now!"

Mouth, chest moves.

"Wake UP, Val!" a different voice yells.

Mouth, chest moves.

"Please, God!"

Mouth, chest moves.

"Bruce, please help!" the different voice from before yells.

Mouth, chest moves.

"Come on."

Mouth, chest moves.

"I don't think she'll make it, Steve," a new voice says.

Steve. That word makes me feel happy and sad. It makes my heart want to beat faster, but also want to stop.

"Please, Val," the first voice whispers in my ear.

This voice makes me happy and sad. It makes my heart want to beat faster, but also want to stop.

"I think I'm getting a heartbeat," the newest voice says.

I feel something clutching my wrist, then something at my neck.

"Steve, try that again," new voice says.

"What?" first voice says.

"The whispering in her ear, dumbass grandpa! Do it now!" the second voice yells. I don't like this second voice yelling these words.

"Please, Val, wake up, come on, honey," first voice whispers in my ear.

"Mouth to mouth might work now," new voice says.

Instantly I feel something on my mouth. It tastes familiar, like whiskey kind of.

Chest goes up and then goes down.

But this time, I want it to go up and go down.


	4. Chapter 12- Chapter 15

Chapter 12

I struggle to suck in air, sputtering.

"She's trying to breathe now," first voice says. This voice is the most familiar, most comforting.

"That's good, right?" second voice says.

"Yes," new voice says.

I struggle to suck in air.

"She did it again!" first voice exclaims.

"She might be conscious," new voice says to first.

I suck in air.

"Valencia? Val? You there?" first voice asks.

"Val, wake the hell up." Second voice yells. I want to laugh at this voice.

I breathe.

I open my eyes and meet a set of familiar bright blue ones. Instantly, without a choice, I reach up and kiss the face the eyes belong to.

Whiskey and something else.

Steve.

"Val!" Steve says through my lips.

I try to speak, but my voice is broken, so I nod.

I look around and see piles of ash strewn around the room. Tasha, Clint, and Thor were talking to a balding man with a bad paunch.

"Happened?" I manage.

"We got most of them… but then Loki and the shapeshifters left." Steve explains.

I nod.

"Can you stand?" He asks, grabbing my hands to pull me up.

I stumble up against him. I shake my head.

"Okay, I'll just… do you want me to carry you or let you lean against me?" He asks.

"Lean," I say.

I wrap my arm around his shoulders and he wraps his around my waist. Although he wasn't carrying me, my feet weren't touching the ground. We didn't get very far until my knees fell out under me. From that point on, he carried me in his arms. I laid back into them and cuddled into his chest, falling asleep.

I woke up in a limo. I was laying on a seat a few seats away from Steve. I moved over to him, half asleep, and put my head on his lap, falling asleep before he could move me away.

Chapter 13

I woke up officially at Tony and Pepper's apartment, in my bedroom. I was in new clothes. I felt stiff, like I had slept for a while.

I got out of bed, pulling my tangled hair into a ponytail. I walked into the hallway and saw Steve standing in it, just a few steps away.

"Look, Val, I, I just…" he started.

I launched myself onto him, wrapping my legs around his waist and pinning him to the wall. I kissed him hard and long, entwining my fingers in his hair. His hands wound their way to my lower thighs and he held me up, all the while kissing me hard and long.

He turned around and pinned me to the wall, kissing me still. But then he was pushing me too hard against the wall and my tired lungs couldn't hold the pressure.

"Steve," I managed, no air in my lungs. "Can't breathe."

He instantly backed up. "Oh, wow, um, wow, um, I'm sorry," he said, blushing as he let me down.

"It's okay," I whisper, with a double meaning.

He sees both meanings to my words. "Oh, Val," he whispers back, hands on my hips. "I love you so much and I would never purposely hurt you."

He pushed a stray hair back behind my ear. "I know you wouldn't, and I am so sorry. I… I listened to your messages," I say to him, looking away to hide the pain and guilt I feel.

"Val," he gently says to get my attention. "Look, I know… I know what it looked like to you. And I know that it was your worst nightmare. It was mine, too. You know."

I nod, trying to wipe away at the tears that are starting to slowly fall from my eyes.

"I… I love you too, Steve," I whisper.

He reaches down and kisses me, softly this time, not intensely.

"Well, that's where the wild animal noises came from," an all too familiar and all too teasing voice laughs at the end of the hall.

An instant blush breaks out over my face, but I keep eye contact with Steve. "I'm sorry, we learned from the best… you and Pepper are the king and queen of wild animal safari," I say to him.

Tony's smug confidence is nowhere to be found. "Come on, smartass. We're having an Avenger meeting."

I walk into the living room hand in hand with Steve.

The conference has already started. Nick Fury, Clint, and Natasha are on Tony's projection screen. Thor, Jane, Pepper, and Dr. Banner stand around the screen in various places. Tony joins Pepper, who is sitting on a barstool.

As Steve and I walk in together, I can't help but notice Dr. Banner's annoyed glare that he directs at us. I give him a little wave to show him that I notice him watching.

"So, what is this shapeshifter thing called again?" Nick asks.

"On Asgard, we know them as the Hydra," Thor replies.

I'm leaning against Steve, who is leaning against the bar. He winces at the name "Hydra".

"They once were a great people, but they were corrupted by a greedy man who became ruler. He took them to war against an enemy they could never hope to beat. They were defeated badly, but to keep his kingdom, the greedy ruler bargained with the enemy king. The king, being generous, told the Hydra people that they could keep their land, their houses, their kingdom, but they could not keep their bodies. This made the Hydra a people made of sand; they can change into any form but cannot keep it for long. The Hydra people were so angry at their ruler that they made him swear to get them each a body. The desperate ruler then called out to all the universes that whoever had a way to ensure bodies to the Hydra would receive the backing of the Hydra people in everything from war to politics to even which sound is better," Thor explains to us.

"Are there any forms they can't change into?" Pepper asks.

"No." Thor says.

"And what is this greedy ruler's name?" Nick asks.

"Ender," Thor says.

"Well, how can they be defeated?" Clint asks.

"It was believed on Asgard that there was no way possible, but in fact it seems that you can burn them with fire, in Valencia's case, or with electronic lightballs, in Tony's case," Thor says.

"Are they hostile?" Steve asks. Dr. Banner gives him a glare.

"No, just mysterious," Thor admits.

"So let me get this straight," Tony starts. "We are facing Loki, a mastermind deity of mischief who wants to take over the universe, and his army of shapeshifters who can change into any form and will do anything Loki tells them in order to get bodies, which I assume will be human bodies. And the shapeshifters can change into any form to confuse us?"

"What are we going to do to prevent any mistaken identities?" Pepper asks.

A silence hushed the group.

"We could all have codewords?" Jane suggested.

"No, one of them could overhear," Natasha says.

"We all could cut scars?" Clint suggests.

"That's great for you guys, but what about when Val and I change form?" Dr. Banner asks.

A few more ideas are shot down.

"Well, what if we got some sort of symbol… tattooed or carved into the skin, but hidden from anywhere a Hydra could see?" I suggested.

Silence.

"That's actually not that bad an idea," Nick says.

"So, like, what kind of symbol? Your Avenger symbol, or your…" Pepper started.

"Avenger symbol?" I asked. "What?"

"You know, like Steve's is his shield and Thor's is his hammer, you know, like yours is that A, for Arson," Natasha said in a bored voice.

"What?" I whispered to Steve, still confused.

He pulled out his iPhone while the others talked about symbols.

"Here," he said, handing it to me.

I saw a picture of my firey self, flying with Tony to the museum. In another picture, the camera zoomed in on my pin. A youtube video I found showed footage of me flying around and eyewitnesses nicknaming me "Arson" because I burnt part of the building with fireballs.

"I am sorry, Nick, and everybody else, but we have to pack up to fly to Hawaii for our wedding. We are going to have to continue this conversation sometime later," Pepper ended the chat. She reached over and hung up on Nick, Natasha, and Clint.

Chapter 14

I hadn't realized that I'd slept a whole day, so we only had 6 days until the wedding, which was November 16th. We are leaving tomorrow (five days), having a wedding dinner (four days), wedding rehearsal (three days), nail salon day (two days), a bachelorette party (one day), and then having the wedding.

I am glad I am not a man and am not going to Tony's bachelor party. From what I've heard from his friends, all the Playboy Bunnies, Megan Fox, and even Aerosmith are slated to come to the party. I planned Pepper's party and all I got for her was the cast of Magic Mike to reenact the strip scenes.

Right now, Pepper and I are making spaghetti for dinner and Tony is trying to explain Hawaii to Steve.

"So, let me get this straight, Hawaii is thought of the same way Florida was when I was… well, back then?" Steve asks.

I, being a child who grew up with all 50 states, laugh at his confusion.

"What?" He asks me, sounding frustrated. We've all been laughing at him.

I struggle to stop laughing. "Yes, you could think of it that way," I say, chopping some vegetables.

"So, why is it different FROM Florida?" He asks.

"There are volcanos," Tony points out.

"The sand is black," Pepper says.

"There are hula dancers," I say stupidly. Tony had stolen my reason.

"And why is it better that there are volcanos and black sand?" Steve asks.

"Well, it has to do with…" Tony starts into the engineering and business behind it.

"Dinner's ready," Pepper interrupts.

We all take a bowl of spaghetti and head into the living room to watch a movie.

I was itching to talk to Steve alone. I struggled to pay attention to the plot of the award winning movie, but if you were to ask me one thing about the movie besides its title, I wouldn't be able to answer. I wanted to ask Steve about the reason he flinched at the word "hydra" and why the hooker had shown up as a Hydra form.

Finally, the movie ended. "Well, I think we're going to turn in," Pepper says, standing up from the couch with Tony. "We've got a long day tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night," Steve and I say as they walk into their bedroom. I listen for the sound of the door shutting, and then locking with a click.

When the door just shuts, they are sleeping. If it locks, they are either having sex or talking about something serious.

I suspect the first.

"Here, I'll go put up the spaghetti bowls and you can… go to bed, I guess," I say to Steve, giving him a quick peck on the cheeks as I got up. I couldn't ever just kiss him on the lips.

He grabs my arm as I start to walk away and says, "Don't take too long, hon."

He then gets up from his seat, walks over to me, and kisses me long and hard on the lips. The bowls were this close to falling to the ground and breaking or exploding into flame. I'm the first to pull away.

"Steve, I've got to put this away. Pepper'll kill me if I break yet another set of silverware," I say to him as I walk away. I can't destroy another bowl; I've already destroyed 15 daily use bowls and 7 china ones.

He walks away down into my room. I wonder what's gotten into him, I think as I watch him go.

I can't pretend that I'm not excited to see him. I nearly break the sink as I wash the dishes.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the bowls are washed and I almost run to my bedroom.

I open the door and quickly shut and lock it.

I turn around and see Steve from the back as he pulls his shirt over his head, slowly.

He knows I'm here, I can tell. He's teasing me!

"Steve, what is this? What do you call this type of flirting?" I ask him, frustrated.

He turns around, blushing. Like the Steve I know. "What… what do you mean?" He asks. "Flirting? Me? Psst, whatever."

I realize what's going on here. "Who did you talk to?"

"Tony." He blurts out the answer.

I laugh into my hand. "Steve," I say, getting close to him, putting my hands on his hips. "I love you, not Tony. Just be yourself; that's all I can ask."

"I know," he whispers to me. "It's hard, you know, being relocated to 2012. I… I haven't flirted for a long time." His eyes go glassy, like he is far away.

"Steve," I whisper. "What are you thinking about?"

He looks down at me. "I… I was thinking about the last time I flirted. In the 40's. She was… well, if I had stayed back then, she would have been the one for me." He realizes what he said. "Well, no, I mean, I just, I, I…"

"Steve," I say. "I'm not mad." I stare up into his eyes.

He nods, leaning down to kiss me.

"But before anything happens, I want to know why you shrunk back at the word 'Hydra'," I say, turning my head. If I didn't get it out now, I would forget about it.

He sighs, pulling back.

"When… when I was a soldier, in the 1940's, our main target was a group of people that were crazier about world domination than the Nazis. They believed that the Tesseract, you know, the thing Loki stole, was the key to it. And it probably is. I had to ram one of their ships into the ice to hide the Tesseract. That's when I froze. The group I was hiding it from was called Hydra, and their leader was an experiment gone wrong; he was an early lab rat for the experiment performed on me. It just…. I was so used to fighting the Hydra that the word still… makes me tense," Steve explains.

I look into his eyes and know that it doesn't just make him tense… it makes him a little scared and a little angry, too.

"Steve," I say to him. "No matter what, I'll be here for you. I'll always be here."

He leans down to kiss me this time, and I let him.

His hand finds my waist and I slide mine up his back to the top of his spine. After a few moments of kissing, he slowly unbuttons my shirt, constantly kissing me all the time. I find myself groaning angrily at the buttons; they can't come apart fast enough. He laughs on my lips and rips the rest of the buttons off of the shirt. I run my hands up and down his chest as he takes off my jeans and his. I'm just in my underwear and I wrap my legs around his waist and let him lay me down on the bed.

The rest is history.

Chapter 15

I wake up at 6:30 a.m., to the sound of my alarm.

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

"Uhhhh," I murmur, turning my face into my pillow.

I reach over to see if Steve is there, but he is not. I frown, turn off my alarm, and get up to pack up my suitcase… when I see that it was already packed. A note rests on top, in Steve's handwriting:

Val-

Packed your bag according to what Pepper told me to pack. Tony and I went on ahead to the airport to just get everything situated, so you and Pepper can leave when you are ready. The plane will leave whenever you arrive.

Love,

Steve

I smile at the note, from his sweet cursive handwriting to the sweet thought behind it.

I stepped into the shower and pulled on some clothes, brushed on my makeup, and walked out of my room.

Pepper sat at the bar, typing away on a laptop.

"Pep," I say, trying to get her attention.

She continues typing.

"PEP!" I yell.

She looks up. "Oh, hey, Val," she says, folding her laptop down. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," I say.

She stands up from her perch on the barstool and goes to lockup everything.

"I'm just… just so excited. I mean, the next time I come back to New York, I'll be married. A wed woman. Mrs. Pepper Stark. Wow," she gushed from the balcony, where she was locking up the doors.  
I noticed she was crying.

"Pep," I say, making it two syllables. "What's wrong, Pep? Why are you crying?" I walk over to her.

"Oh, it's just… it's just… I'm so _ready. _To be… to be married, you know? I… I just love him so much and I… I'm being silly. I always was a … a sissy when it came to … to emotional times," she says, drying her eyes.

"Okay, well, Pep, we got to go to the airport. Is everything locked up?" I ask slowly.

"Yes," she says, taking a deep breath. "Let's go."

We have the limo driver, or Elton as he makes us call him, drive us out to the airport.

"Congratulations, ma'am. To the both of yous," he says to Pepper, winking at me.

Pepper gets a little mad with Elton. "Not yet, but thank you, Elton. He'll appreciate it."

I didn't get it, so I just said, "Bye, Elton. Have a nice November holiday."

He nods, smiling, and drives off as we leave the car.

I see the jet from here. I've only flown in it twice: to Jenkins and back to New York. I remember thinking it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen, being a person who had never flown in a plane before.

Pepper smiles at me, in a cocky way. "Ready?" she asks.

"Ready," I say.

We walk onto the plane, where Tony and Steve sit at a table, apparently discussing something.

"-Tony, I'm just so sure about it," Steve says.

"Hello, ladies," Tony interrupts him. He gets up and swoops Pepper down in a kiss.

"My bride to be, welcome aboard," he whispers in her ear. She laughs, smiling, as he pulls her back up into a standing position.

Steve, on the other hand, is not so dramatic. He walks over to me, smiling. "Hey," he says, resting his hands on my hips, right on my sweet spot. I rest mine at the tip of his spine, where he likes it. We quickly kiss. "Hey," I say back.

We pull away, though he keeps one hand on my hip the whole flight. I think it might have been he was a little scared because of 9/11 and terrorism being so new to him. He wasn't so much scared for himself, but for me.

After a while, Pepper and Tony fall asleep on each other in the booth by the table. Steve and I move to a couch in the other room to talk.

"Val," Steve says, facing me.

"Steve," I say, facing him.

"I love you a lot," he says.

"I love you too," I smile at our repeating game.

"But I need to talk to you about something. I don't know where it came from, and it's a stupid idea, really, but you are very… insecure. And I just… I want to know why you _are _insecure," he says, sounding a lot like a cute Dr. Phil.

"Steve, I got it from living in a trailer park with two parents who both put me down and complained about me. I got it from being told I was ugly, and that no one loved or liked me. I used to be much worse, believe me. The first time I stayed here with Pepper, if anybody teased me, I would cry for hours," I admit to him. I'm not offended that he asked. I know I am insecure.

"Can I just tell you something? Honestly?" Steve says, looking straight at me with soulful eyes.

"Yes." I say.

"You are the most beautiful, most kind, smartest, loveliest, sweetest, funniest, nicest, prettiest, and most wonderful person I have EVER met in both lifetimes and I love you so much," he says, still looking straight at me.

Nobody had ever said ANYTHING like that to me.

"I love you too," I respond dumbly.

"And I want you to know that any complaint, any put down, any and every mean word your parents EVER said to you were lies. And, if I could, I would do anything to take back what they said to you," he said.

Nobody had ever said ANYTHING like that to me.

"You're a good person, too," I respond.

My shocked mind starts working enough to expect that he might propose or something.

"And I want you… I'd love it if… if you'd," Steve started.

"Plane landing," Tony cut us off.

I lean into the sofa. Steve gives Tony sort of an are-you-kidding-me? look and glares at him.

"Lesgo," Tony says fast. "Aloha, Hawaii!"

I pull myself off the couch, Steve standing up with me. He grabs my waist.

"Val," he says. "I do love you a lot."

I smile, "Love you too," and I stand on tiptoe to kiss the tip of his nose.

"Now, get my luggage, packing mule! Mush!" I shout to him.

He throws me over his shoulder and grabs our bags. "Mush this," he teases as he walks out of the airplane.

I pound his back with my fists, playing along. "Let me down," I half shout.

Pepper laughs and takes a photo. "No!" I shout.

Tony smirks. "Val, I always knew you'd never take to being manhandled."

He sets me down at the bottom of the stairs. I smooth out my shirt and hold Steve's hand. In his other hand he carries our bags.


	5. Chapter 16- 21

Chapter 16

The days in Hawaii blend together.

We spend the days doing wedding stuff, and most nights on the beach talking or swimming. Steve and I share a suite, but it has a foldout futon and a real bed.

"For whoever needs it," Pepper says, eyeing me.

We sleep on the bed together, mostly too tired for anything else.

The night before the bachelorette party, Steve and I were strolling a touristy street together. He held my hand and we walked into the wacky tee shirt shops and into the post card warehouses. We walked in front of a tattoo parlor called Aloha Mike's Tattoo Lagoon.

"That's it!" Steve exclaimed.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Well, you know how we have to have certain symbols and stuff for the Hydra?" He asks.

"Yes," I say.

"What if we got tattoos? That only you and I know about?" he asks me. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

I smile. "Sure."

His eyes light up. We walk into Aloha Mike's and ask for a tattoo artist.

A few minutes later, out walks an odd looking man.

"Aloha," he says. "I'm Aloha Mike." He has long, dyed blonde hair and is medium height and fat. He is red from sunburns, though the skin around his eyes is pale from sunglasses hiding them from the sun. His shirt is a Hawaiian polo, with a flowery print on it, and he has on cargo shorts and flip flops.

He reminds me of a sunburnt penguin on vacation.

"How can I help you two?" he asks us.

"Um, well, we're… we'd like to get a tattoo," Steve stutters.

"Okay, man, what type?" Aloha Mike says.

"Well, what are your newest designs?" I ask him. I had been to a tattoo parlor with Spencer and Tag before; I kind of knew what to do.

"We have an Aloha flower, a dog in a hula skirt, and conch shells. Those are the more… classic ones. Then we have some pop culture additions if you'd like to see those," Aloha Mike said.

"Sure," Steve said.

"Well, so this is our football collection, nothing really special about that. We have a lot of cartoon characters, like Snoopy. So… oh, yeah, I almost forgot. We also have superheroes, if you're interested," Aloha Mike said.

"Superheroes," Steve and I said at the exact same time. If he was anybody else, I would say, "Jinx!" But since he is Steve, I can't without explaining it.

"Okay, huh huh. Well, we have, uh, Marvel superheroes and DC superheroes. We also have those crazy Avengers people in New York," Aloha Mike said.

"Can…. Can we look at the Avengers one?" Steve too quickly replied.

Aloha Mike didn't notice. "Sure," he smiled. He was kind of like a sloth.

He pulled out the drawer with Avengers designs and showed them to us.

"Ladies first," Steve said nervously.

"Okay, well, then I'll have the Captain America shield. Right here on my left hip," I say, gesturing to the spot.

"Hey, you sure your boyfriend is not gonna mind the Cap on your hip?" Aloha Mike asked, not sure.

"He'll love it," I say to him, looking directly at Steve.

I stared at him the whole time Aloha Mike tattooed me. It hurt like Hell, as Tony would say, but I handled it.

"Now it's the gentleman's turn," Aloha Mike said.

"I'd… like to, uh, have the Arson flame one, right here," he said, pointing to a spot just below the top of his spine.

"Okay," Aloha Mike smiled. "That girl's one sweet babe, if I may say so myself."

A blush creeps across my face, so I cover my face with my hands like I'm nervous.

Aloha Mike tattoos Steve's back, and then he tells us about tattoo care and all that stuff. We pay, and then we leave.

"Wow," Steve says. "That was fun."

"I know, right?" I say back.

He holds my hand all the way back to our hotel room.

Chapter 17

Two days later, I'm standing in the beach house where, awaiting just outside the doors, lies Pepper's wedding.

We picked the bridesmaid gowns months before; they were a Grecian style dress that had two straps holding it up and clinched just below the chest. The dress was a champagne- off white color that looked beautiful with the décor.

Pepper walked out of the bedroom where she was finishing up her makeup and gosh did she look beautiful .

Her soft orange hair was curled down her back and the champagne colored lilies that were the "flower" of the wedding were braided in with her hair at the crown of her head. Her wedding dress fell softly down her body, starting with a smooth halter neck that fell into a slightly clinched waist. The skirt fell unevenly on purpose; the front ended mid shin and the back fell into a small train. She wore just a small pair of tan sandals and her makeup was minimal.

She looked like a young girl.

I had already seen Tony earlier; he looked dashing in a sports jacket and dark pants; his shirt was a light sky blue and had champagne stripes in it.

"You look beautiful," I said to her, smiling.

My grandfather, who had amazingly been "unable" to talk to me the whole trip, was going to walk his youngest daughter down the aisle. I had to go a few counts before them.

The traditional wedding song, "Here Comes The Bride", started playing and I could suddenly see Pepper getting nervous. She was freezing up.

My aunts were starting to walk down the aisle.

"Pep?" I ask.

She doesn't answer for a second. "Yeah?" she answers, finally coming to.

"You are going to be great," I say to her, smiling.

She smiles at me, her eyes happy. "Thanks," she says softly. "Now, it's your cue, go!" she pushes my rump.

I stumble for a second, then catch myself and walk down the aisle properly.

I could feel the glares of hate and shock from Pepper's family. They were shocked to see Daphne's illegitimate child here as the maid of honor! I stop trying to look in the rows of people because all I will see is disgust.

So I look at Steve.

God, he looks dashing. So handsome in his khaki pants and sports coat; the groomsmen look just like Tony except for their pants, which are khaki. Steve's hair is slightly rumpled, and I long to reach up and smooth the curl falling in his eyes.

I resist, and head to my left to stand with the other bridesmaids.

Pepper then comes down the aisle.

She looks so beautiful, and I watch Tony's face as she walks. He is looking a little nervous, just a little bit, and a little tired. He looks mainly elated and deeply in love. Earlier, he nervously joked about the crowd of carrot-topped guests on one side and the mixed bunch on the other side. The joke was… a tad mean, so I won't repeat it.

The ceremony goes by quickly; it is over before the sun has set.

I clap as Tony and Pepper kiss, smiling. I look over at Steve, who is watching my face intently, raising an eyebrow at my stare. I know him well enough to know that he is trying to cover something up.

I can't help but wonder what it is throughout the reception.

The reception is pretty traditional; they throw the bouquet (my cousin catches it), they cut the cake, first dance, etc.

When it started getting too late for the little ones to be awake, Steve wanders off to the bathroom from our table with Pepper's best friend and her family.

Once he leaves, she looks over at her husband, smiling in that _I-know-a-secret way. _I smile, confused, when they stare at me with huge smiles on their faces.

And then the song "Something" chimes on over the speakers.

I stand from the table, because I know that there is no chance that anyone else could have picked that song.

Steve stands in the middle of the dance floor, amid the other people dancing.

"What?" He smiles at me cockily.

I roll my eyes.

"Would you want to go for a beach stroll?" he asks me, serious.

I figured this would be when he told me whatever he had been trying to hide earlier. "Sure," I say.

We walk away from the party and onto the beach, deserting our shoes at the edge of the party.

"Pepper and Tony seem happy," Steve says.

"Pepper's been waiting for this forever," I agree.

He mumbles something that sounds like "Have I."

I turn to him. "Is there… is there something going on? Are you, like, mad at me, or something?" I ask seriously.

To my frustration, he laughs. "No, no; it's the opposite, trust me," He smiles.

I huff a sigh and stomp down the beach.

"Val, wait! Val!" He calls after me, running.

"What?" I whine. "Did you just come to tease me?"

"No, I promise, no, and I'm sorry for laughing," he says seriously.

"Val," he starts.

"Yeah?" I say, my back turned to him, thinking he would just try to apologize again.

"I… Val, I love you so much. Loving you is easier than breathing. And, just like breathing, I can't live without you. You're my first thought in the morning and my last at night. Every moment I've known you, I've loved you. I have never, in any lifetime, met anyone as nice and caring and beautiful, inside and out, as you. I… I want to spend every moment of the rest of my life with you in it. I love you, Valencia Summers, and I… I would like to ask you to become my wife," Steve says.

I turn around in shock. Back in Jenkins, no one asks your hand in marriage in that way. You are just standing around and the guy says, "Marry me?" And, when I lived in Jenkins, I promised myself that I would never marry anyone unless I was 100% sure that they would never leave me.

There he is, on one knee in the sand, with a ring in his hand. He looks so soft and sweet then, in the moonlight. He looks like a young, 26 year old boy in love with a girl. He doesn't look like a 90 year old veteran thrust into a boy's body in a world that doesn't make sense to him. He looks like the nicest, gentlest, sweetest person in the world.

And, in that instant, I realize that Steve is the only person in the world for me. He loves me for me, regardless of my crazy curly hair, my fire problem, my trailer park history, my sarcasm, and my sensitivity. If I say no, I will lose my best friend and the person I love the most out of anyone.

So I say to him, crying softly, "Yes."

A moment of shock hit his face, then a look of pleasure and relief took over.

"Really?" he asks, shocked.

I nod, crying.

He grabs me by the waist and kisses me, hard and long. I wrap my arms around his neck and cry while we kiss.

And then we stand on the beach holding each other for a moment, just standing there.

He reaches over, breaking the moment, and slides a beautiful silver ring onto it. It has an old style look to it, with three diamonds inside the silver. It is classy and beautiful and I love it.

I gasp at the beauty.

"It looks like silver, but it is made of vibranium, just like my shield, and doesn't even melt or anything," he explains.

"Do you like it?" he asks.

I nod.

"Pepper thought you would," he says.

Then it hit me. "Everyone knew, didn't they?" I ask him.

He blushed and rubbed the back of his head, the way boys do. "Ye… yes, everyone knew. I… well, I was going to ask you back in New York, the night of the party, but… considering the way things went, Tony and Pepper thought it'd be best to wait for Hawaii."

"They were in on it back then? Well… how long have you been wanting to ask me?" I ask as we start walking back to the party hand in hand.

"Um… since… um… well, I wish I could say that I truly intended to ask you the moment we first kissed, but back then it was only a fleeting thought. I think it was when… no…. it was definitely when we were… on the balcony, that morning. Yeah, before you woke up I was sitting out there, thinking, and I started thinking about my future. And the funny thing was," he said, looking over at me, "every time I thought of a possible future, you were in it each time as my wife."

"Oh," I say, yet again astonished at how easily it was for him to compliment me.

"What?" he asks, confused. We stop walking and stand about 100 feet from the edge of the party.

"I just… I have grown up with the thought that, if someone loved you, they just… do. They don't really tell you or try to do special things to show you of it. When I came to live with Pepper, I realized that… all of my ideals about life in general were mainly… wrong. But I'm just… not used to people saying their love so beautifully as you do," I try to explain to him.

A wind blows wisps of my hair onto my face. I try to fix it before we go in the party, but my hands are not working.

I blow a little sigh of frustration. Steve laughs. "Here," he says, and he slowly pushes the hair from my eyes and leans in to kiss me.

I break it by smiling. "Later," I whisper.

He nods and moves his hand from my face to my waist, smiling at the party guests who are watching us.

I huff a sigh.

Only a couple more hours.

Chapter 19

Thousands of miles away, in New York, Loki sat in his penthouse apartment with the Hydra and Ender.

The Hydra were all sleeping, or returning, as they called it. In their sleep, their bodies' appearance was affected by their dreams. Most of them looked like random humans, but a select few looked like the Avengers.

Loki was contemplating his next move. He had not known that the Hydra had weaknesses. He had believed that they had none.

But then Stark and his niece, Valencia, had popped that plan of universal domination.

Ender was thinking, pacing slowly back and forth. His appearance changed to match his thoughts, shifting into the forms of Stark, Valencia, Steve, Bruce, and- uh, groan- Thor.

Loki knew, from the gossip magazines he saw on the corner stands, that the Avengers were all at Stark and his mate's wedding. He only had a short time to plot.

He knew Stark's weakness: his heart charge and his mate.

He knew Bruce's weakness: his Green side.

He knew Thor's weakness: his love for that human girl and his temper.

He knew Steve's weakness: his love for the niece.

He knew Natasha and Clint's weaknesses: their vulnerability as humans.

But he didn't know Valencia's weakness. He thought that, maybe, she would drown in water. But that Steve saved her. He thought that she would give in to seeing others she once loved. That didn't work.

Wait.

She had seen that woman, that disgusting woman before she fell in the water and it shocked her.

"ATTENTION!" Loki shouted, startling the Hydra awake.

"Who was the woman that scared Fire Girl into the water?" he asked them.

"Me, sir," a voice came from the back. The crowd parted. There stood a tall, beautiful Hydra. She had taken the form of a celebrity, with long brown hair flowing down her back and big breasts.

Loki, though knowing it was just a projection, couldn't help but like the creature.

"What was the woman's name? And her relation to Fire Girl?" he questioned her.

"Daphne, it is the girl's mother. Her sister is Pepper. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada," the Hydra began spitting off.

"And what is your name?" Loki asked.

"Zhanghana, sir. That is my Hydra name. I am, on Earth, known as Santana Monroe, sir. I normally wear this form, sir, as I like it and the attention it brings me," Zhangana says, smiling at Loki.

"Hmm, hmm. What would you like me to call you?" he asks her flirtatiously. The other Hydra have gone back to returning.

"Anything," she whispered.

He smiled at her ill attempt at flirting. He had work to do, and little time for Santana.

He was going to have a new girl on his arm, anyway:

Daphne.

Chapter 20

The second I stepped into the hotel room and locked the door, Steve was on me. It was all I could do to remember not to rip the dress, not to rip the dress, not to rip the dress as we kissed against the wooden door.

He eventually picked me up and carried me to the bedroom, where we spent the rest of the night… together.

It was about 5:30 a.m. when I stopped from sheer exhaustion. I'd been awake and moving since 4:30 this morning for Pepper getting ready. I knew that Steve, a superhuman, didn't need sleep, but I did. I turned on the early morning news and leaned back against my pillow. It wasn't long until I was about to sleep.

I turned over on my side and faced Steve, who was concentrating on the news. "Hey," I said.

"Hey," he said, smiling at me.

"I love you," I say, smiling stupidly from tiredness.

He laughed at me. "Go to sleep, silly," he smiled.

I laughed too, and yawned. "I guess," I sigh.

"Good night, love," he said, reaching over to smooth my hair down.

"Hmm," I responded, already asleep.

When I woke back up, the sunlight streaming in through the curtains and the fact that I was so stiff made me think I had slept a long time. I pulled myself from the bed and remembered my ring, my fiancé, and everything else and couldn't help but smile. I reached into my suitcase and pulled out one of my long, nightgown tee shirts. Then, I walked into the living room area.

Steve is standing there in a thin white undershirt and his boxers. He has out an ironing board and an iron that came in the room, and is ironing out his sports jacket and my dress.

"Good morning, fiancé," he said, smiling from his post.

"Good morning," I smile back.

He has the tv set on Good Morning America and I grab a cup of coffee from the counter and sit down to watch it.

"And in other news, wedding bells are ringing in the Stark family. Millionaire Tony Stark just tied the knot with long-time girlfriend and CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts," Matt Lauer says.

"Not only that, Matt, but apparently Pepper's niece is also newly engaged," Ann Curry adds.

I change the channel quickly to Spongebob Squarepants.

"How do they know so quickly about it?" Steve asks.

"Well," I say, standing up. "Twitter is a big part of that. One of my cousins probably tweeted something about it."

"Oh," he says, still confused. He turns off his iron. "I'm done ironing, though," he says.

I walk over to him. "You know, the wife normally irons, not the husband," I tease him.

"Yeah, okay, ha ha ha," he turns to me.

I stand on my tip toes and kiss him hard, wanting it to turn to something else.

"Val," he says, stopping me. "Val, we have to go get on the plane. We've been stalling it enough."

"Oh," I say, frowning from disappointment.

He smiles. "Later. Now get dressed!" He shouts, and smacks my ass.

"Hey!" I shout and run into the bedroom.

Chapter 21

We meet Pepper and Tony on the runway at about 2:30 p.m.

Pepper gives me a hug, saying, "Don't go eloping while we're gone please, Val." She smoothed down the wisps of my hair that were flying away, just like a mom would.

"Pep," I half-heartedly whine. "You've got to get on your plane?"

"In such a hurry for us to leave, Val?" Tony teased. "Bullshit, I know you'll miss me." He gave me a big hug.

"Congratulations, Tony," I smile. "Have fun!"

He smiles back and wraps his arm around Pepper, his eyes asking her a question. She tries to discreetly shake her head.

"Good bye, and congratulations," Steve says, shaking Tony's hand.

They watch as we board the private plane to New York and wave goodbye.

For the first time in my life, I felt like everything was going right. Pepper, Steve, and Tony were my family, no one degraded me, I was rich, I was engaged to the love of my life, I was out of college, and I had finally been to Hawaii. Plus, there was no news from Mom.

Although it was perfect, I couldn't help but think of the saying, "There's always a calm before the storm."


	6. Chapter 22-24

Chapter 22

A few weeks pass by.

Tony and Pepper come back to New York, happy and glowing from their time in the Hawaii sun. I officially move in with Steve at his apartment, although we spend most days over at Tony and Pepper's penthouse.

We began planning the wedding. We decided not to rush into it, so we chose May 23rd, giving us six months to prepare.

Christmas comes and passes, along with my birthday (December 29th) and we have had no trouble with Loki or the Hydra.

Around the end of December and beginning of January, I started getting the stomach flu and throwing up in the morning. I was going to go to the doctor soon.

Steve and I were at Pepper and Tony's house one night. It was only 8 or so, but we wanted to get home earlier because we were tired. We had planned wedding stuff all day.

"Bye!" I waved as the elevator doors shut.

We traveled down in the elevator and just talked, like we normally would.

It seemed like a perfectly normally evening.

Steve and I hopped into my new Volkswagen bug and drove across town back to our apartment.

"You know, we should move closer to them," I said from the passenger seat.

"Yeah, I guess. Plus the apartment is really small," he added as we turned onto the street that housed the building.

"Home sweet home," I sighed as he turned off the car. I was about to fall asleep sitting up.

He reached over and rubbed my hand. "Love you," he said.

"Too," I smiled.

We got out of the car and walked hand in hand up to the apartment.

I immediately ran into the bathroom to take a hot shower. My back had been killing me all day.

The hot water falling on my back felt so good.

Chapter 23

The spray from the Billagio fountains felt so cold on Loki's neck.

He was in Las Vegas, looking for Daphne. He had been here three days, looking for her in various clubs, casinos, restaurants, and hotels. He had not found one person named Daphne or anything close to it.

He sighed and walked away from the fountains. He needed more time to find her.

Loki pulled out his iPhone and called Ender. "Plan B," he said into the phone.

He could hear Ender's sigh. "Okay," the phone said.

He ended the call and nearly dropped his phone.

There, in front of him, stood Daphne Corvettey, passing out fliers for her workplace.

She had long tangles of rust colored hair, brown eyes that stood out from her sunken cheeks. She had plastic surgery hips and plastic surgery breasts. He could tell that she was trying hard to keep her youth.

"Hello, Daphne," he smiled at her. "I have an… offer that I don't think you can afford to pass."

"Really?" she asked, in a light voice that he expected to be deeper.

"Would you like to come with me?" he asked her.

"Sure, mister," she said, smiling a greasy smile.

She was evil, that much Loki knew.

He also knew that, after Plan B took effect, it would knock the Avengers off their feet.

Chapter 23

Everything was a blur.

I walk into the bedroom, going to read a book and talk to Steve, then fall asleep.

Instead, I find Steve kissing a girl… who looks just like me. She has my blonde curls and blue eyes, my light spattering of freckles, and my curves. He is holding his hand on her left hip, exactly where I love it.

"Steve?!" I ask, yelling.

Steve is shocked. My clone looked angry. "It's… it's one of those sand things," she says, sounding scared.

"Steve, no, I'm Valencia. Your fiancée? That you are going to marry on May 23rd? That girl you're holding? That's the Hydra," I plead, pointing at my clone.

His face turns to stone and he pulls my clone close, protectively, like he has done to me a million times. He looks at me as though I am the most disgusting thing he has ever seen. "How do I know which is which?" he asks me, harshly.

"Look at her hip," I say, "Is it there?" I'm crying, begging him to look.

His face softens with a puzzled look. He nods, pushing down the top of Clone Val's pajama pants.

There, just above her panty line, her hip is changing color and skin type, trying to figure out what is supposed to be there. I push down my matching pajama pants and my tattoo of his shield is right there, where it always has been. Her hip changes instantly to match, but it's too late. He knows.

"Val," he says, looking at me with an apology in his eyes. He doesn't notice my clone changing into some twisted version of Kim Kardashian. He goes to push it away, but it doesn't work. Its arms enclose Steve, shifting into a metal bar that encloses him.

Then, the scariest part of all happens. They start shifting and shrinking into sand.

"Val!" Steve calls, his legs and waist sand. "Whatever happens, I love you!" he says, reaching for me with his left hand. I almost reach him when he falls, collapsing into sand that blows out the window.

I instantly grab my cell phone and call Tony and Pepper.

"Hello?! Hello?" I yell into the phone when someone picks up the phone.

"Yeah, hi, Val," Tony replies weakly, his voice cracking.

"AhydrathingjustcameandtookSt eveandtheydissolvedintosanda ndIdon'tknowwhattodo!" I shout into the phone, on the verge of crying.

"Yeah, they just came and… took Pepper… the same way," Tony says slowly, and I can tell he's trying not to cry.

"OkayI'mcomingovertotheTowerandI'mgoingtotalktoyouthen,okay? Bye," I shout and hang up the phone.

I am hyperventilating. A hydra thing just took Steve. Steve can be anywhere. Steve could be dead. A hydra thing just took Pepper. Pepper can be anywhere. Pepper could be dead.

I repeat this over and over in my head as I pack up to go to Tony's.

I take the three pictures on the dresser. I take Steve's phone. I take his clothes. I take my clothes. I take my toothbrush. I take his Bible. I take my _Twilight. _I take his favorite mug. I take the copy of _Superman _we have on DVD. I take his cologne. I take a bottle of Aspirin.

While searching for the toothpaste bottle, I find a box of tampons in the bathroom cabinet. And I remember.

My period was due two weeks ago.

I don't let it phase me. I find the toothpaste and then hunt down a box of pregnancy tests. I realize Tony is probably freaking out, so I stuff those in the bag for later.

Grabbing the suitcase, I look out on the balcony and see that there is a lot of traffic. I was about to jump off and fly to Stark Tower when I remember I might be pregnant and catching on fire would hurt the baby. So I go downstairs and hop into my little Volkswagen.

I don't remember the drive.

I don't remember the elevator ride.

I remember getting out of the elevator and collapsing in Tony's arms, crying. I could tell by his eyes that he had cried a little too.

The situation seemed helpless.

After crying for a while, I control it enough to go to my old bathroom and take the test.

A few minutes later, two pink lines stare up at me, mocking me.

They say, "Pregnant."

Chapter 24

I tell Tony that I am pregnant, then I go and lay down to sleep.

I am shocked.

This is all I know as I fall asleep:

I am Valencia Summers.

I am 23.

I can catch on fire at will.

I am the biological daughter of Hector and Daphne Summers.

I am the sentimental daughter of Tony and Pepper Stark.

I am the adopted niece of Pepper Stark.

I am from Jenkins, Alabama, but my hometown is New York City, New York.

I am engaged to Steve Rogers.

I live in Apartment 2B with Steve.

We are getting married on May 23rd.

I am pregnant with his baby.

Steve was taken, along with Pepper, by the Hydra.

He might be dead.

I have a terrible dream, a nightmare where I am forced to forever watch Steve be tortured by my clone. I'm only a few feet from saving him, but I can't reach him. His screams fill my dreams.

Then we switch places and I am the tortured, but he is my torturer, not the sand woman.

I dream that I have the baby, but it is a fire child and is just a ball of fire and all that I have left of Steve went up in flames.

I dream that my mother is there with me, screaming at me for burning yet another thing. For not giving her any peace. I dream that she thrusts me into the fire, and for the first time ever I feel the flames burning me.

I wake up screaming in pain and fright, Tony holding me.

"It's okay, it's okay," he whispers.

But we both know it's not.

From then on, we sleep in the same bed, as friends; we wake each other from the nightmarish dreams and bring them into the one we call "Reality."

Days turn into weeks. Steve and Pepper are nowhere to be found.

I grow more depressed and the nightmares are more welcome than the nightmare I live now.

At least, in them, I get to see Steve.

But the best part of the day is when Dr. Banner comes and tells me about the baby in my tummy.

He is not an official obgyn, but he is close enough with a license in child and adult care, along with his study and research licenses. I don't want to go out, so he just comes in.

He'll sometimes do an ultrasound, and we have gathered that the baby is only about one and a half months old, so it is probably the product of our time in Hawaii for Pepper and Tony's wedding.

Sometimes, in the middle of my heated nightmares, I'll dream cool, soft dreams of the baby being a little girl. She always looks the same. She has my hair, but it is in dark ringlets, like Steve's mother. She has my spattering of freckles and Steve's deep blue eyes. She has my skin color. She is beautiful, and most of the time I'll just be holding her, watching her dream and grow from a baby to a toddler in my arms, but sometimes, Steve will be there and we'll hold her together.

But then I'll go to kiss him or kiss her little forehead and the baby turns into a fiery monster, just like her mother and I have to watch myself or Steve burn to death.

Then I'll wake up screaming bloody murder and Tony will have to calm me down.

The scariest part, though, is waking up without screaming and having to sit there and calm myself down by myself.

It's calming to rub my belly, where I know the baby is.

It's scary to hear Tony's dreams.

He normally doesn't scream bloodcurdlingly, like I do, but he'll mutter and shout curses. I think he dreams that the terrorists that made him have his electromagnetic light thingy cause Pepper to need the same thing, but he can't help her because he's not with her. I also think he dreams that the Hydra kidnap him and torture Pepper to death right in front of him.

I gather this through his yelling of, "Go to hell, terrorists!" and "Pepper, put the magnet there!"

The scariest part is when he whimpers, softly, "Pepper, don't leave me, please."

When he does that, I gently shake him awake and whisper in his ear, "Tony, wake up. You are alive."

I can't tell him it is okay because it's not.

I can just tell him he's alive.

I think, after a while, we start watching each other for signs of suicidal thoughts.

I can't kill myself because I am carrying a baby and, if Steve were to come home, I wouldn't want him to be alone.

But that doesn't mean I don't think about it.

Tony, I'm not so sure about. He's not carrying a baby and Pepper would always have me. He thinks if he were to die, Pepper would move on, like every other girlfriend he's had.

But I know she won't.

They're soul mates.

Sometimes I'll walk in the kitchen, hormone hungry, and find Tony playing with a steak knife, deep in thought. I'll come up to him and slowly wrench the knife from his hands.

He'll notice what he was doing and nod, slowly, and walk off to watch TV or try to find Pepper.

Some days I find myself staring out over the balcony, not knowing how or why I came out there. At these times, I just walk back inside slowly, like the world is heavy on my shoulders.

If I ever sleep until the sunrises, it's hard for me to find a reason to open my eyes or sit up. I feel so guilty, guilty for Steve, guilty for Pepper, guilty for Tony, guilty. I feel as though the world is falling apart and that I am the one who broke it.

Although Steve and Pepper might not be, Tony and I are hopeless.

I just hope the baby isn't.


	7. Chapter 25, 26, 27

Chapter 24

I was drifting at the check up with Bruce.

"Hello? Val?" he asks.

"Huh? What?" I shake myself awake.

"Tony… Tony needs to tell you something important," he says, his eyes dark.

I felt a burst of possibility in my heart, but when I saw Bruce's glance over to Tony in the corner I knew this was pre-practiced and was not a spontaneous burst of news.

"Okay," I say, and let Tony come over and sit next to me on the check up table.

"Val," he said.

"Yes?" I ask, studying him. He had worn deep lines into his face from not sleeping, partially from nightmares and partially for looking for Pepper. I was of little use to the search team, being that I only knew about public, generic technology instead of the private, specialized technology required for searching.

"Well, um, the people at SHIELD wanted me to, uh, tell you that, uh," he looked at me, eyes filled with sorrow and sadness.

"What? Spit it out!" I was nervous, for Tony never stuttered.

"They wanted me to tell you that they are going to stop searching for Steve and Pepper soon because it is becoming obvious that they will not be found until Loki wants them found," he blurts out.

"What?" I am dazed.

"And they want us… to try to… move on, and not… be as held up on it as we are now, so that we can focus on stopping Loki," he said, his voice angry.

"What?"

"They want us to just let it go, let them go, let them die, okay, Val? They're going to stop searching for them in a few days," Tony says, his voice cracking a little.

"What?" I say, my voice not making the sound.

I stand up and walk away, towards the balcony to think. I rub my belly unconsciously, and start to cry a little as I stare out the window.

But then I look around and see the room where we trained. I see the place where I fell off the building. I see where we first met. I see the couch where we had sat numerous times.

And it is too much for me.

I fall to the ground, flaming a bit I think.

Before I black out, I hear Tony yell, "Val!"

And I am forced into a dream.

_I open my eyes and my head hurts. _

_It takes a second for my eyes to adjust to the bright lighting. I'm standing on a thin, iron bridge that extends from the metal walls to an island in the middle of the room. To either side of me is an abyss that falls down about 100 feet to a hard, metal ground. _

_I rush down the bridge to the island, seeing someone on it. As I get closer, I know exactly who is on the metal island: Steve. Learning this, I run faster and faster to him. _

_As I get closer and closer, the air in the room seems to get thicker and thicker, like a thick fog has overtaken me. It's hard to breathe._

_I run anyway. _

_Finally, when I am about to reach the island, I can't go any farther. This is ridiculous. My arms can extend out to the island, my feet just cannot move another step forward because I am so slow. _

_This isn't fair. "STEVE!" I cry out, trying to get him to come save me._

_My feet can move forward one step. _

_His hand twitches slightly, reaching out for something. "Val," he murmurs softly._

_"STEVE! HELP ME!" I shout out. _

_I move forward two more steps. _

_"Hmm," he murmurs, his eyebrows curving downward, as though he was thinking hard. _

_I cry out repeatedly, trying to move forward. Nothing works. _

_"Steve, please, help," I whimper, from my position stuck in the fog. I don't have enough energy to move backward and try to leave, so I'm stuck._

_He makes a noise that I had never heard before. It sounds strangled, like a whimper almost._

_I can suddenly run forward._

_I race over to him, almost knocking him off his gurney. "Steve," I whisper, stroking his hand softly. _

_I was waiting for him to burn, to burst into flames, to kill me, to make me wake up from this paradise. _

_In some ways, this was the worst nightmare. _

_"Val," he sighs, smiling slightly. _

_"Where… where are we?" I ask timidly. _

_His eyes are closed and he looks as though he was asleep, but I knew that it was a drugged sleep; I could tell by the IV in his arm. _

_A nurse walks down the bridge towards the little island, with no trouble at all. She stops at Steve's IV and changes out the liquid that was running out of drugs. She then moves on to Pepper, not noticing me. _

_I know that I probably won't get anything else from him, so I just stroke his cheek softly, whispering a goodbye. _

_Then my paranoid instincts kick in. _

_I look around for any marking that would tell me where we were. I knew that I couldn't go back across the bridge without suffocating, so I searched for pens with logos, blankets, addresses, anything. _

_After a few minutes of searching, I find nothing and rub my forehead. _

_"God," I say. "What is the point of my being here with nothing to find my way back?" _

_I look up to the ceiling, like I am talking to Heaven, and then I see it!_

_The three triangle logo. _

_We were somewhere in the heart of Hammer Advanced Weapon Systems. _

_I know I am drifting, I can feel myself not focusing in. I struggle to find a pen, find something to help me remember. _

_I see a pen and grab it, drawing a big H on my hand. _

_With that, I drift out of the metal room and out of the dream. _

I start to sit straight up, but am restricted.

I'm still in the living room, but I'm strapped down to a gurney.

"What… what's going on?" I shout out, not seeing anyone.

"Val…Val! You woke up! Fuck, don't ever fucking do that again!" Tony shouts at me.

"Wha… what did I do?" I asked.

"You collapsed onto the floor, almost splitting your damn head open, might I add, and caught on fire, almost killing yourself by burning a hole in the damn floor. Did… did you want to fucking die, Val? Come on," he cussed at me, not angrily, but worriedly.

"Why am I on a gurney?" I asked, confused.

"Oh," Tony said, starting to unstrap me. "Well, we had to strap you down on the check up table because you were thrashing around and almost fell off."

I blinked. "What?"

"You were yelling and thrashing around in your sleep," Tony explained.

I sat up. "What was I yelling about?"

He gives me a look. "The usual," he says.

Then I remember. "Tony…. TONY! TONY! TONY! TONY!" I shout, jumping off the table.

"What is it?" he asks, grumpily.

"I know… I know where Pepper and Steve are! I know! I know now! I KNOW!" I shout, jumping around the room.

"What the… don't you fucking mess with me, Valencia Summers, or I will whoop your sorry ass," he says, not believing me.

"No, you don't understand! I know where they are… I dreamt about it! They're somewhere at Hammer's building, I saw!" I shout.

"Why the… wait. Wait. You know, that might be legit," Tony said, half talking to himself.

"Let's go! Go get Nick Fury! Now!" I shout at him, already pushing the down button for the elevator.

"Well…"

"NO! NOW! NOW!" I shout, like a child throwing a tantrum.

"BRUCE!" Tony shouts.

"Yeah?" a response echoes out from the level below.

"Get up here, now. We have to go to SHIELD," Tony shouts, already in the elevator with me.

Bruce runs clumsily up the stairs, tripping on one.

"Come on, hustle!" I shout.

He runs into the elevator and we shoot down to the ground.

Chapter 25

"So, let me get this straight," Nick Fury says. "You think that Hammer has Pepper and Steve locked up for Loki?"

We were in a private warehouse owned by SHIELD. Natasha, Nick, Bruce, Tony, and I were sitting around a table talking about my dream. Clint and Thor weren't there because Thor was in Ohio with Jane at a convention and Clint was on a spy mission across the globe in China.

"Well, we have our reasons, Nicky. For one thing, Hammer was probably interested in surpassing Stark Industries, the leader of the weaponry market…" Tony started.

"Don't flatter yourself, Stark," Nick interrupted.

Giddy from the excitement and crazy from the lack of sleep, I can't help but laugh.

"And, to surpass us, he probably wanted something like the Tesseract. Loki probably promised him it if Hammer would be his headquarters," Tony explained.

A moment of silence filled the room.

"Well… I'll see what I can do," Nick said. "I'll be back in a second." He walked over to a corner and dialed someone on his phone.

We all sat around the table, not really talking. It was kind of like we were a band of misfits: Tony wasn't much of his self without Pepper, or I without Steve, or Natasha without Clint. Bruce was… well, not that talkative, anyway. He never really got into the Avengers.

"So, um, how's the baby thing going, Val?" Natasha broke the awkward silence.

"It's okay. Um, how are you… um, doing?" I ask awkwardly, nudging Tony to get involved in the conversation. He was lost in thought, fingers twitching as though he was writing.

"Yeah, I'm okay, you know, um, I bought a new condo, so… that was nice," she said, staring at Tony.

All three of us were waiting for some sarcastic comment about condos or something.

"So, getting back to the meeting, I just told your idea to the board members, and they agreed with me that there is a chance of it being legitimate… so we are going to look into it," Nick said, sitting down.

I almost squealed.

"But, we don't think we are going to take Tony or Val."

My jaw dropped down to the table. "What the fuck?" I asked. "I… I'm the one who knows where they are!"

"Hey, we _want _to take you two, and Lord knows we _need _to take you two, but you two are so… out of it, as they say, that they don't want to risk throwing away two of our three fliers, not to mention both of our two ways to defeat Hydra," Nick says.

I felt the need to vomit rising up in my throat.

"Where… where exactly did you hear that we were out of it?" Tony asks, trying to keep his anger controlled.

"Well, Bruce told us, of course," Nick said, in a DUH voice.

My jaw dropped again. I looked over at Bruce, who fortunately knew enough social skills to look away from my glare.

"Wait, wait, if… if Tony and I can pass a psychological exam… from a psychologist BESIDES Dr. Banner… can we come with you? On the mission, I mean," I ask Nick.

His face turned into a thoughtful frown, like I guessed something he hadn't thought of.

"I'll ask," he says. He retreats into the corner and calls the board again.

We are stuck yet again in a circle of misfits.

"So… um, that condo sounds nice, Natasha," I say.

"Yeah, it's all right," she says, getting up from her chair and starting to pace in the space behind it.

I turn to Tony, watching his face as he types into his iPhone, doing some equation.

He looks like a man searching for God, searching for something to put his faith in. He was searching for something to lean on in the storm, something strong and sturdy that would last.

He is certainly looking for Pepper.

Nick comes back over to the table, while Natasha keeps pacing.

"If you can take the test without showing signs of depression or suicidal thoughts or insanity," Nick says, looking at Tony, "you can go on the mission."

"The psychologist is coming when?" Tony asks, in a cocky, smartass voice that was known to the public as the real Tony Stark.

Nick gave him a look. "He is coming in 10 minutes."

Chapter 26

"What is your name?"

"Valencia Marie Summers."

The nerdy psychologist was only about 30 or 32. He had red curls of hair swept up on top of his head. He was tall and lanky, and had glasses that spanned his freckled cheeks. He looked a lot younger than he was.

"How old are you?"

"23."

The room we were in was cozy, in that it was a little small. A "mirror" spanned the left wall, but I knew that Nick, Natasha, Bruce, and the board members were watching me from behind it.

"Where are you from? Can you describe it?"

"I'm from Jenkins, Alabama. I lived in a trailer for 16 years, excluding the year I lived with Pepper in New York."

"Who do you consider your family? Why?"

"I consider my aunt, Pepper Stark, and uncle, Tony Stark my parents and Steve Rogers my husband. I said Pepper and Tony as my parents because my real parents are drug addicts and because I love Pepper and Tony the way you should love your parents. I consider Steve Rogers my husband because we are engaged."

"What do you mean when you say, 'the way you should love your parents'?"

"Well, my mom left when I was 7, and my dad was never emotionally or mentally there. In that way, my parents never loved me the way parents should love their children and, in return, I never loved them the way a child should love their parents."

The young psychologist gulped. "Has anyone ever assaulted you in a fight?"

"In a fight, yes."

"Did you ever feel the need to fight back?"

"Yes, because they were taking my groceries and money for the week, so I beat the shit out of them and they left me alone."

He gulped. I heard chuckles from behind the mirror.

"So you fought them back?"

"Yes."

"Do you ever feel remorse for fighting them back?"

"No."

"Do you ever feel remorse for anything?"

"Yes."

"What for?"

"I feel remorse for two things: one, not coming to live with Pepper sooner, and two, not saving Steve."

"Steve?"

"My fiancé."

"What happened?"

"A hydra took him to Hammer Tech and to Loki."

"Can you describe Tony Stark in three words?"

"Sure. Wait, that's not one of the words." I rub my nervous, shaking hands on my pants. "Sorry, I'm just nervous."

"It's no problem."

"Okay, um, phew. I would describe Tony Stark as smart, loving, and… funny. He's a really good person."

I imagined that they had moved Tony into another room with another psychologist.

"Hmm. So, what…no, how would you describe yourself?"

This was a hard question. "Well. I would call myself protective, insecure at times, and caring."

"Insecure? How so?"

"I'm… I've been told I was a terrible person so many times, it wore me down."

"Do you ever have recurring nightmares?"

"Yes."

"What about?"

"Oh, just small things. My mom, Pep, Tony, Steve, my baby."

"Baby?"

"Oh, I'm pregnant."

He gulped again, sweating a little. "Uh… um, congratulations."

It's a good thing Tony didn't have this guy; he would call the guy insane and that he needed the psych.

"Thanks." I smile.

"What happens in these dreams?"

"Fire."

"Why fire?"

"I… uh, you probably know me better as Arson, or whatever they call me," I say.

His eyes show his connection. "Oh, yeah. Okay, so why are you scared of fire?"

"Just because I'm the only one who will survive it without pain, I guess."

He scribbles on his little notepad. "Okay, you're done. It was nice to have met you, Miss Summers."

"Thanks," I say, and the metal door in the corner makes a POP sound, letting me know that it was unlocked.

Chapter 27

Tony came out of his room a few minutes after me.

"Hey," he says, a little too cockily, like he was hiding something.

I nod a sup.

We have to stand in the corner while Nick and the board go over our evaluations.

"Well," Nick says, coming back over to us. "Here are your results. You both are going, but one of you [he looks at Tony] just barely made it, so be careful."

"Thanks," I say to Nick and he lets us look over our results.

_Name: Valencia Marie Summers Age: 23 Gender: Female_

_Diagnosis: some insecurities, slight violent tendencies, sleep deprivation_

_Overall suggestion: serve with some limitations _

I smiled at the psychologist across the room.

"Damn," Tony mutters, done reading.

"What? Let me see," I say, taking the paper from his hands.

_Name: Anthony Edward Stark Age: 46 Gender: Male_

_Diagnosis: narcissistic personality, violent tendencies, sleep deprivation, passionate _

_Overall suggestion: serve with caution; serve with team_

"You did a good job. I got serve with limitations," I say.

"Well, that's because of," he gestured to my belly.

"How do you get 'serve with a team' and be called 'narcissistic'?" I ask, changing the subject.

"Maybe I'm just special," Tony says, extra loudly.

"Don't flatter yourself, Stark," Nick called across the room.

"Back at you," he whispered, just for me to hear.

The board members all left, along with the two psychologists: Tony's psychologist was a big man who looked suspiciously like Chris Christie.

"So, before we start planning, we need Thor here," Natasha says.

"If Clint is available, we could call…" I start.

"No, his assignment is not something he can just drop," Nick says. "Here," he hands Bruce his phone. "Call Thor."

He goes into the corner to call him.

"Listen up, you two. I am not going to have you drop out on us when we need you the most. If we are going to have you on this mission, we need Bruce to stay over at the penthouse to babysit you. Every day, he is going to report on everything you did all day and all night. Think of it as… house arrest. We are going on the mission in two to four days, depending on when Thor can get his ass back in New York. I need both of you two go home now and we will have a plan meeting tomorrow. Go," he points to the door.

Tony and I walk out, Bruce following us.

I get in Tony's 1950's Chevy truck first, followed by Tony and Bruce. I have to sit in the middle of them in the front seat as there is no back seat, just a small space between the bed and the back of the front seats.

Right after everyone gets in, I feel the pregnancy vomit coming up my throat. I push Bruce, who immediately gets out of the car after seeing my green face. I run over to the bushes and let it out.

Tony comes over and pulls my hair back as I release last night's dinner into the grass.

I feel terrible.

We get back in the car, and I am exhausted, as usual. I lean my head on Tony's shoulder while he drives and almost fall asleep, but then the tip of the nightmare comes and I shake myself semi-awake.

"Val," Tony says. "We're home."

I wake up and walk into the building, into the elevator. I hadn't done this in several months, only on days when I had to go grocery shopping.

We go upstairs and Bruce announces that he will cook for us, so we sit on the couch and pretend to be happy because we know Bruce will report any signs of sadness, or depression. We watch the news, and let Bruce bring our food over to us, and we eat and joke with each other, like nothing is wrong, like Pepper is in the bedroom getting her pajamas on and Steve is in the bathroom.

The time approaches 9:00 and I am growing more and more sleepy, so much that I can hardly stay awake… or pretend to be happy.

Tony quickly catches on, and says we are both going to sleep.

We walk back into my bedroom, where I fall onto my bed, almost asleep. Tony is tired too.

The last thing I think before I go to sleep is that something is off.

I dream the usual dream, Steve, Pepper, Tony, the baby, and I burning to death in a fire. But this time, when the flames are normally so intense that I wake up, I keep on sleeping, even though I try to wake myself up. The flames subside and it is just me left, standing in a field of ashes, all alone. I try to rebuild everything with the ashes, but when I get close, the wind blows it away. One time, the wind blows so hard that it shows three bleached white skeletons on the ground, along with a tiny one.

I realize who they are and I blow away with the wind and join them.

I wake up in a cold sweat, wanting to scream but keeping it silent. I get up from the bed and run into the bathroom to throw up, and I know what is wrong while I puke.

Bruce drugged me.

Tony is there a few minutes after me, holding my hair up while I let loose the spaghetti and noodles that was my dinner.

Finally, I am through, and I lean back against the cool tile of the bathroom wall next to Tony.

And I begin to cry.

"Hey, hey, Val, don't cry," Tony said, his voice crackly from sleep. He reaches his arm around my back and rubs my shoulder.

"I'm… I'm so… sca…scared, Tony. I'm… I'm affffraid that Steve is dead. That I will never… ever… see him again," I say, leaning against Tony.

He pauses, trying to think what to say to respond.

"Well, Val, there is a huge chance that they are," he says. "I don't know what else to tell you."

After this, we sit there quietly, leaning on each other's shoulders.

I sigh, and stop crying. I stand up. "Bruce drugged me last night," I inform Tony as I wipe my eyes with the back of my hands.

"I know," Tony sighed. "I saw him do it, and told him if he put it in my pasta I'd put an overdose in his."

"What? Why? He'll report you!" I yell softly at Tony, going to punch him lightly.

"No, he knows not to," Tony said, staring off into space, thinking.

I shrug, and walk out of my bathroom and bedroom into the hallway. My eyes are still bleary and I still feel tired, even though I've slept the longest time in months. I stomp past Bruce's door, to alert him that someone is awake. I run swiftly into the kitchen and find the sleeping pills in a cabinet.

A door opens. I pull out the pill bottle.

Someone is walking down the hallway. I struggle with the childproof cap.

"Hey, Val," Bruce says from the living room.

I pour the drugs down the trash disposal.

"What're you doing?" he asks.

"Oh, I just found these drugs in the coffee mug cabinet and decided that, since no one was using them, I'd just get rid of them," I say, giving him a glare that says, "I know what you have done and, quite frankly, I'm pissed."

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Bruce runs over to the sink to stop me, but I already turned on the disposal which would crush the pills into tiny crumbs.

"Oh, where they yours?" I ask innocently. "I would label them next time. Maybe you can get another prescription."

Bruce gives me an angry look, his eyes shifting into a slight green. He walks away.

"We have a meeting in five minutes."


	8. Chapter 28-31

Chapter 28

"Now, here is the approved plan," Nick Fury says, pulling something up on Tony's board. "We will have Natasha disguised as Jenna McCartney." He handed her a pass, and a duffel bag full of her costume. "We have deduced that it is mainly men that work in security in Hammer Tech, so you need to be…"

"Slutty? Whoreish? Hoe? Easy?" Tony suggests solemnly.

Natasha gives him a death glare. It is only 6:00 in the morning.

"I was looking for the word 'promiscuous', but thanks, Tony," Nick said, rolling his eye. "To continue, Natasha, you will walk into the building from the main entrance and walk through the lobby until you reach a hallway going to your left and to your right. Go down the hallway to your left and into the security room. There, flirt it up with the watchmen just long enough for Bruce and Thor to sneak in through the back entrance. After they're in, knock out the watchmen, and head back to the elevators. While she knocks out the watchmen, Bruce and Thor, you two will sneak into the building and get in the elevator to your left from the way you walked in. Press the up button, and wait for Natasha to get in.

"Val, Tony, I need you two to dress up like obese scientists. Walk in through the front door, like Natasha does, but wait for the signal. When you get the signal, go to the elevator to your right that Natasha just walked into. Here are your passes and costumes.

"You will all go down to the basement, three floors below the lobby, and you will have to scan your passes to get on another elevator that will shoot you down to the labs. Now, there will be a lot of guards for the lab containing Steve and Pepper, and, deduced from what Val told us, it will probably be the largest lab. Natasha, I'm going to need you to flirt it up with the guards again downstairs, and get them to let you into the lab. After that, it is up to what happens. That's as far as the plan goes. We strike at," he looks at his watch, "8:00. In the morning."

He throws Bruce and Thor their bags and passes. We all split up into the different bedrooms and bathrooms to change.

I go into my bathroom and open my duffel bag. There is a simple, typed up sheet on what I should look like and how I should act. I read it carefully, sitting on the tile floor.

_Mason, Jessica Amanda age: 32 DOB: 8/28/1980 HOMETOWN: Dalton, Ohio JOB POSITION: Hammer Adv. Weapon Systems Assistant Scientist in Floor -3 and -4 Labs DEGREE: PhD in chemistry MIT OVERVIEW: Jessica (called Jessica) is more of a shy person, w/o many friends. She is overweight, thought as depressed by peers, and was often bullied. She has no accent, although she likes to perfectly pronounce each word. REAL JESSICA STATUS: alive in SHIELD hospital, in car accident a few weeks before, SHIELD called and said she would be back today. She= You. Be careful, don't talk too much. GOOD LUCK ON YOUR MISSION. _

It went on to describe how to wear my wig, makeup, and body suit. I finished getting dressed after thirty minutes or so, and we all were ready in the living room at 7:00.

Thor was dressed much like Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters, his blonde hair pulled back in a low pony tail and his skinny tie hanging down over his dressy white shirt. He wore big "nerd" glasses, and I couldn't help but admit that he was handsome. He was playing the role of sharp new intern John Dupont, from Atlanta, Georgia.

Bruce looked like an older man, in his late fifties. His black hair was replaced by a wig that made him have a Red Forman hairstyle. He had been sprayed to look whiter than his natural tan, and he wore a fat pack that made him look like he had a potbelly. He was Jim Whittaker, from Detroit, Michigan.

Tony was the funniest looking of us all. He had on a fat suit, but his hair was powdered blonde and he wore blue contacts with round, Harry Potter glasses. He looked a lot like Chris Farley, and that just made me laugh harder. He was Hendrick Matterson of Brooklyn, New York, and was about 35.

Natasha was the image of tramphood, and a hollow feeling of jealousy sparked in my stomach. She had on a blonde Marilyn Monroe wig with a red dress that cut off at the top of her thigh and dipped to the space just above her bust. She was wearing breast enhancers, making them even larger than they normally are. She had bright red lipstick on, and ten inch stilettos. She was 27 year old Jenna McCartney and she made me feel dumpy in my dumpy costume.

I was wearing brown wig of straight hair that fell down to my shoulders and tiny glasses that made me look fatter. I wore light green eye make up that made me look sick.

"Alright, let's get in the car," Tony says.

We all get in the straight shot elevator and sneak out of the building before anyone can become suspicious as to what we are doing and hop into the arranged cars. I rode with Tony in a tiny, old Acura car, while Natasha rode in her own VW convertible, and Thor and Bruce rode in an old Mini Cooper.

We were silent on the way there, the tension from being so close to Steve and Pepper killing us.

Finally, after ages, we pulled up at Hammer Skyscraper, where I couldn't help but shake from excitement.

Earlier, we had deduced that, when I caught fire, the baby was not harmed, so we had agreed that, if we should need it, I could flame up. I was about to catch fire from the heat of my uniform underneath the fat suit, underneath the lab coat and pants.

I was ready to go in. We saw Pepper go inside, and heard the signal on our car radio a few minutes after. We walk into the building, and I try not to stare at the people in the lobby, I try to seem like a loner. It's not that hard; I was one for most of my childhood.

We walk into the right elevator, and I realize that the disguised people around me are the Avengers, because at first I thought they weren't.

We go all the way down until we reach the check point, where the guards stop our elevator.

"Passes?" They ask from the elevator door.

Tony goes first. "Here ya go, boys," he says, letting them scan his pass.

"Thank you, Mr. Matterson," the guard says to Tony, letting him through the door.

Thor goes next. He doesn't say anything, just hands them his pass and walks through the door.

Natasha goes right after him. "Hiya, boys," she says, handing them her pass.

I am trying not to laugh at her "sexy" voice. She sounds like a Marilyn Monroe impersonator.

"Thank you, Ms. McCartney," they say to her.

"It's 'Miss McCartney', or 'baby' to you," she says, winking a fake eyelash.

Bruce goes next and tries to act impatient while they scan his card.

Finally, it's my turn, and I hand them my card.

"It's nice to have you back, Miss Mason," one of the guards says, looking me up and down.

I nod, nervous and disgusted, and dart into the elevator with the others.

We go down in the elevator, and Tony whispers to me, "See? Even when you are fat, pregnant, and ugly, men still are attracted to you." I stifle a sleep deprived giggle.

We reach the labs, and one guard greets us at the doors this time.

"Hendrick and Jessica?" the guard calls out, reading a list off his tablet.

We raise our hands.

"Go right on," he gestures, not even looking at us.

"John and Jim?" the same guard calls out.

They raise their hands.

"Go on, please," the guard gestures.

"Jenna?" The guard looks up for the first time, and checks out Natasha. He sets down his tablet, and by the look of his face (and his pants) it is obvious that he is human.

"Here," she pouts, and walks out of the elevator.

The guard stares at her as she walks, mouth probably drooling. "Mr. Guard, sir?" Natasha asks.

"Ye… yes, beautiful?" The guard gulps, sweating.

"My associates and I need to go see the… special project involving… the test subjects? Can you take us to the room? I was supposed to show them, but it seems I've forgotten," she pouts.

"Sure, no problem, follow me," he says quickly, and leads us down a hallway. Natasha talks to him the whole time, pretending to flirt.

The whole time, I am consumed with the realization that my dream was legit.

The lab comes closer than I wished. I took a deep breath, conquering the nerves.

"I'll see you later, Miss McCartney," the guard winked at Natasha again. She waves a little goodbye over her shoulder and waits for us to enter the lab.

The guard's face hardens into a careless stone once Natasha disappeared into the lab. "Hurry up, Mason and Matterson," he yells at Tony and I.

We enter the room and I almost collapse from the shock.

The room is exactly like my dream.

The island is still in the middle of the room, the logo still on the ceiling, the bridge still narrow. The only difference is that the pit is filled with sand.

I walk tediously across the bridge with Tony, trying not to look suspicious. The Hydra sand shifts and moves with an imaginary wind and it scares the shit out of me. I start to get to the point where I couldn't walk in the dream, but now, in real life, I walk without trouble.

Until Bruce missteps and his wig tilts to the side and falls into the sand.

Then everything happens at once. The sand starts to rise up and form people, coming out to fight us. Natasha throws off her wig and dress, revealing her suit underneath (don't ask me how she managed it.) Thor rips off his glasses and tie, pulling his hammer out of his suitcase. Tony rips off his fat suit, while I burn through it. I walk on fire through the sand people, not letting them touch me for they will be burnt into ash.

Tony follows right after me, electrocuting the ones who try to go after him.

I reach the steps that lead up to the island, and I turn to find Tony fighting himself.

"TONY!" I cry out.

"Go! Get out of here fast!" Tony shouts.

I nod, taking deep breaths. I run over to Steve's gurney and almost throw him off of it again. I rip out his IV and call out his name.

"Val," he sighs, reaching over and holding my hand.

"Steve, it's me, but we have to go. Like now," I say quickly, wanting to stay there with him.

"Val, you're not real," he whispers, in a sad voice, still rubbing my hand.

"Steve, you need to open your eyes. We need to go. Before the Hydra get up here," I say nervously, looking at the sand which was rising up like a wave around us.

"If I open my eyes, you'll be gone and I'll just get more drugs," Steve argues, his eyes shut.

"Please, Steve, just open your eyes. We have to go! Please!" I beg him, pleading. If he didn't want to cooperate, I'd just have to grab Pepper and hold him and get out.

"No, please, don't make me," he murmurs softly and sadly, like he is full of sorrow.

I reach down and rub my thumb over his burn mark, my finger flaming slightly.

He opens his eyes with shock. "Ouch, damn it!" he shouts. Then he sees me. His eyes widen with surprise. "Val, it is you," he says softly, full of love.

I want to cry with relief, happiness that he is alive, happiness that he will live. I put my hand on his cheek, holding his face up. "It's me, it's me," I say, crying. He smooths my hair back, smiling softly.

"Val," he sighs, and to my shock, he starts to fall asleep.

"Steve, Steve, hey," I slap his face a little. "I have to get Pepper and then we have to get out of here, okay? Can you walk?"

"Yes," he assures me. I am already next to Pepper and ripping out her IV. I slap her face a little. "Pep? Pepper? Aunt Pep? Hello?" I ask her.

She doesn't talk or open her eyes, just crinkles her nose a little. This is enough to show me she is alive, so I pick her up and lean her against me.

I walk back over to Steve's gurney, dragging Pep with me. He is leaning against the gurney, shirtless, and is not standing. I can tell by his shape that he has lost a little weight. He is sighing, slightly angry.

"Steve?" I ask timidly. "We need to go. Can you stand?"

He looks at me sadly. "No."

"Come here," I say. The wave of sand is getting closer. "I'll hold your arm, and you'll hold Pepper, and we'll fly through the roof."

"Okay," he says. I grab his arm, and stand up on the gurney. He holds Pepper in his arms. I take off flaming, and look over at the others, who are fighting themselves. Thor's clone didn't have the hammer, so he defeated him easily. So did Tony, with his energy lights. Natasha and Bruce, however, were different. Bruce was in his other form, and so was his Hydra clone. Natasha's clone was about to stab someone when we flew through the ceiling.

I melted through each metal ceiling all the way up to the lobby, where I flew through the floor and giant glass doors.

Then we are over the city and I realize it's over.

Steve and Pepper are safe.

We fly onto the concrete balcony, where I have to keep flaming to haul in Steve. It doesn't take much to bring in Pepper, whose belly is suspiciously large.

I stop flaming and run to the couch where I placed Steve and kiss him.

We kiss for a while, then I fall asleep against his chest, where he held me tightly.

Right before I drift off, I hear him softly say, "I love you."

I hope I had the sense to say, "I love you, too."

Chapter 29

"Val," somebody shook me softly. "Val, hon, you've got to get up."

I recognize the voice.

Tony's.

Was it all a dream? I know I had fallen asleep next to Steve.

Was that a dream?

I look around and see the Avengers huddled around two tables.

"What… where… why?" I ask, confused.

Tony helps me up. "We need you to confirm that it is Steve, not a Hydra."

"Okay," I nod.

I walk over to the table and look at him. Steve is looking nervous, strapped to the table, and uncomfortable, too.

"What… why didn't you test him with the suit, Tony?" I ask.

"He couldn't withstand that charge, Steve or Hydra," he explains.

"Okay," I say, nodding.

I pick up Steve's (or the Hydra's) arm and start to let fire creep out of my fingertips, softly, not a big flame, but just enough to burn someone a little bit. In short, it was the temperature that would burn the Hydra, but not a superhuman.

His arm did not turn to ash.

"Steve," I sigh softly, smiling.

Bruce unstraps him with an arrogance that made me wonder if he wanted it to be a Hydra, not Steve.

"You need to sleep," Bruce orders Steve.

I have to help him off the table and we hobble into my bedroom.

I am so tired, and so happy to have Steve right there with me. I kiss him, just softly to say, "Hello, I missed you."

"Hey, Val," he whispers against my lips sleepily.

"Hey yourself," I say against his.

"I love you," he says. "And I missed you."

"I love you more," I say. "And I missed you more."

He cracks open one eyelid, looking at me. He sees the exhaustion and stress of his absence in my face, and as much as I try to hide it, I know he can see it and I know he hates hurting me.

He smooths back my curls. "Just go to sleep, Valencia," he murmurs. "Go to sleep."

I close my eyes and lean my head against his chest, so tired. I didn't want to sleep, I wanted to kiss him and talk to him and love him and look at him and hold him softly. I could tell by one look that that was what he wanted too.

But he always put what I needed first.

And that was sleep.

"Just sleep, Val," he sighs. "I'll be here when you wake up."

He begins rubbing my hip, my tattoo, with a hypnotic slowness that lulled me to sleep.

I just slept, with no dreams.

Chapter 30

"Oh, Loki, I am so glad I took your deal," Daphne said, her light voice winded.

Loki and Daphne were lying side by side on the Las Vegas hotel room bed. After just having made love, she was crazy happy. Loki, however, wasn't. He was excruciatingly mad at the fact that, not just Steve, but Pepper too, were stolen from Hammer Weaponry. He was going to have to talk to Hammer when he went back to New York.

Daphne couldn't know of his anger though. He turned over, facing her beauty. "I am glad, also," He said, smiling at her.

She was beautiful, after he had given her some help. Once she had agreed to his deal to sabotage the Avengers and take over Earth, he used some troublemaking illusionist skills and made her become her once young self, with flowing red hair and green eyes that shined like emeralds. Her skin was the color of fresh cream and her freckles were perfectly placed on her skin. Her breasts were large and full, her stomach small and thin, and he had to admit Daphne was a beautiful woman.

He had been with her for about 5 months in Las Vegas, having bought the hotel's penthouse for them to live in. He was slowly gaining drunken benefactors in the casinos and was raising quite a lot of money for his "cause" you could say.

What he was pitching to them was that he would take over the world, then sell them specific regions for specific amounts of money. It was first come, first serve, so whoever spent the money now would have the regions then.

In reality, they would all be consumed with Hydra, so they would not want any land.

Daphne and his relationship was a strange one. She knew that he did not entirely love her, and he knew that she did entirely love him, but they worked it out. He would tell her his plans, she would nod, give her input on them, and then they would love each other all over the room, because that was all Daphne ever wanted to do. It tired him out, actually, but she was an interesting woman, who didn't think like any other human he'd ever met.

He was even considering leaving her human during the takeover.

Key word: Considering.

Daphne started kissing him again and his phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered.

"We have a new one. Red hair, nicely sculpted face, brown eyes, a lot of padding on the chest. It was carrying a gun and a knife when we took it from the Hydra Returning place in Hammer. I think we should convert it, with the Tesseract," Ender said.

"Then do it!" Loki was smiling.

He had the greatest assassin of the Avengers, Natasha Barton.

Chapter 31

I woke up with dark light streaming in the window. It was evening, and for a moment I was depressed as usual, but then I felt the hand on my hip and I turned to see Steve.

I smile, not believing my eyes for a moment. He smiles back, and kisses my forehead. "Good morning," he smiles. "Or should I say, evening."

"Hi," I whisper. "That was the best sleep I've had in a while."

"That was the longest I've been awake for a while," he says back.

I remember that I haven't told him about the baby yet. I kind of awkwardly gulp, looking away from him.

"What's wrong?" he asks, inspecting my face.

I smile, softly, and look into his worried blue eyes. "I'm… I'm going to have a baby, in about four months," I whisper. "And it's your baby, Steve."

His face lights up with shock, then happiness. "For real?" he whispers.

I nod.

He puts his hands on my belly and leans his face down to kiss my belly button. "My sweet baby," he whispers into my belly.

"I love you, hon," I say to him.

He raises his head up and kisses me, warm and soft, and murmurs against my lips, "I love you so much, Val."

I sigh, so happy and blissed out. I had missed him so much, it was like… like… losing a lung that someone miraculously implanted back in you right before you died.

I almost fall asleep with my head resting on his shoulder, but then he shook me a little. "Val," he whispers. "Val, I need you to help me up."

I shake myself awake and help him out of the bed, but he is too heavy. I grunt and try to drag him out of the bed to a wheelchair that somebody had wheeled in, but he is too much weight on me and we both start falling down. I throw him back on the bed and sigh because I know what I have to do.

He catches on, too, and smiles a naughty little smile.

"Look away, jerk," I whisper, taunting him as I pull up my shirt.

I strip down and catch fire, then grab him with ease and stick him in the chair.

"There," I say, and I let my face become normal as I lean down to kiss him on the head.

I wheel him around to face the wall and change into my pajamas again, my eyes red and hair blackish at the ends. Then I wheel him out the door and into the hallway, where we almost truck into Bruce.

"Watch it!" He yells in my face.

"Geez, calm down, Dr. Banner," Steve said, concerned.

"What's wrong?" I ask, even more nervous. I could imagine a variety of things going wrong.

"Well, we lost Natasha to the sand. She was pushed in by the sand people and no one has seen or heard from her. Pepper is in a bad condition…"

"WHAT!" I interrupt, yelling.

"Not life threatening, but bad enough… and life threatening for someone else," he stuttered.

I wondered who he meant, Tony or someone else?

"Um, just wheel me into the living room," Steve says, and I do wheel him in there without noticing.

I am so scared that I will lose her. She is my real mother, though not biological, and if she died, I'd be so crushed. And I know Tony will die, too, of a broken heart or something.

I walk back down the hallway and into Pepper and Tony's room, where I can see a sunken figure lying in the bed.

I realize, with a tad of nausea, that it is Pepper.

Her face is sunken and thin, pale as paper, and her whole body is skinny except for her belly, which is suspiciously large. To her side kneels a half crazed Tony, who has grown a slight beard from not shaving for two days. His bloodshot eyes are rimmed with red, like he is barely awake, and his hair is crazy.

He's not been sleeping.

"What… why is she so fat in the belly?" I ask Bruce in a whisper.

"She's pregnant, about 8 months pregnant, according to Tony. Apparently, she found out in early October, but she didn't tell anyone but Tony because she didn't want anyone to know. She… well, she appears to be pregnant with twins," Bruce whispers back. "Tony's gone crazy with relief and guilt; he thinks if he sits here long enough she'll wake up."

"Will she?" I ask.

"Eventually, yes. She's in a coma because of the drugs they gave to her. The drugs are specially formulated to go into your stomach and break down into food particles and water, so you can eat without eating. It's like a feeding tube, except it has a sedative in it. Because she had the drugs for about five months straight, she is on overload. Once her body breaks down all the food particles, which could be any day, she will wake up as soon as the sedative wears off," Bruce explains.

"Will the babies be okay?" I ask.

"Yes, they have the food particles in their tummies but not the sedative because the sedative dispatches into the brain and heart's blood streams, not her umbilical cord's. Unfortunately, she might have the babies before she wakes up and that would be awful for her and Tony, once she wakes up, I mean," he says.

"Can I talk to Tony?"  
"Yes, but be careful."

I nod and walk over to Tony, where he is holding Pepper's hand. I knew that he was burning in a personal hell because Pepper was here but not here. It was very scary, his stillness. He was not moving at all, and normally he would pace when nervous or scared, but this was different. He was almost frozen.

"Tony?" I ask softly.

His eyes turn to me, bloodshot and scary. "Hey, Val," his voice squeaks.

"What are you doing?" I ask timidly, kneeling down next to him.

"Just reading to Pepper, that's all," he says in a squeaky version of his normal voice.

I notice the worn paperback book in his hand, and notice that he is holding it upside down.

Normally, we would have at least 4 hours of sleep, but he has had no sleep in the past few days, so adding that total to the lack of sleep for the past 5 months and the stress and guilt of Pepper, it was no wonder he hadn't gone crazy earlier.

"Tony, um, do you want to come get some coffee? Or some bread?" I ask timidly, like I was talking to a kid.

"No, I have to stay here with Pep, dumbass," he whines a little, like a kid.

"Tony, when did you last eat?" I ask, getting off that question.

"I don't know, a couple days ago. Why are you getting so nosy, Val? Are you deciding to become a bitch? Huh?" Tony asked, and then he muttered something like, "Just like her mom."

This got me mad. "What did you say?" I asked, fighting to stay normal. The room was turning red, like it did when I flamed up.

"JUST. LIKE. HER. MOTHER," he yelled out.

"You son of a bitch," I yelled, my fists fiery.

Instantly Steve was holding me back in his chair. "Let it go, Val, he's tired, he's not thinking straight, let it go, let it go," he was whispering my ear.

My fist fire died out, but I still glared at Tony as Bruce wheeled us back out of the room.

"I'm sorry," I turn to Steve, sighing.

"It's okay, he's just sleep deprived and depressed, that's all," Steve said, still staring at the closed bedroom door.

"It's not okay. If you upset his heart rate, it could cause the heart to beat too fast, which is not healthy for his body right now, so for all we know, the metal shards could be about to pierce and kill him, and it would be all your fault," Bruce said, sulking.

I was shocked. "He was the one who was yelling at…. He started…" I start yelling, frustrated.

Bruce's eyes were slowly turning green, like he was angry.

I stop, shaking a bit. "Buh, buh, Bruce? Can you, uh, stop? It's okay?" I start.

He stops, slowing down and realizing with his brown eyes where he was.

"Sorry," he stares off into the distance. I stand up and shakily wheel Steve into the living room, away from the hallway.

"That was odd," I say. "He normally is in control."

"I guess," Steve says, not sounding like he was focused.

I ease him slowly onto the couch and snuggle into him, forgetting about the world.

"I love you so much," I say.

"I know," he says, still not focusing.

"Jerk," I tease, sitting up.

"Hey, what's that for?" He asks, focusing.

"I know, I know," I mock in a whiny little voice.

"What? Come on, I'm sorry," he smiles.

I lean back into him, my hand reaching up to his shadowy jaw. "This is what should have come out of your mouth," I say, and I move his mouth and say in a deep voice, "I love you, too, Val."

He closes his mouth and laughs. I laugh too, and he kisses me softly.

"Fine," he says. "I love you, too, Val. Is that better?"

"Yes, that's fine," I smile.

**Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated lately… I haven't had a lot of time! Soon to be updated…**


	9. Chapter 32-35

Chapter 32

Everything started going great again. Pepper woke up May 22, one week after we got her back. Tony, who had to be put on a sleeping pill hidden in his food, was so happy. Pepper had her babies May 26, right after waking up. To Tony's disdain, they were both carrot tops and the little girl was blue eyed, while the boy was brown eyed. They named them Cassandra Juliet Stark and Hank Theodore Stark, and Hank was born first by 3 minutes. Sandi, as we called Cassandra, was the sweetest baby, while Hank was always awake and shouting.

We lived with Pepper and Tony only because SHIELD ordered us to. They thought that, if anyone should attack again, we should be all together because three Avengers and a smart CEO would have better odds of success than two Avengers together or a CEO, an Avenger, and two newborns divided.

Steve and I decided to get married on June 1, in a small bed and breakfast in Connecticut. We drove up there for the day with Pepper, Tony, the twins, Thor, Jane, and Bruce. There were other people Pepper invited, too, like some of my aunts and uncles and her friends.

The drive was this morning.

I'm standing on the porch, scared as hell to walk down the aisle to see him. I don't know why I'm scared, I just am. I've always pictured myself being an old cat lady living alone in a mansion, never marrying anyone, never having any children. I've never seen myself getting married, never seen anyone loving me.

I am wearing a beautifully simple white dress that is a high-collared, u-neck top that is clenched right at my waist, then flows into a puffy dress that ends mid shin, showing my white high heels. My hair is down, flowing around my neck and shoulders.

The chorus plays over the speakers and Tony grabs my arm, leading me down the aisle. I have to lean on to him kind of because I feel the need to vomit with nervousness.

But then Steve's eyes meet mine. I didn't feel as nervous.

But I still felt the need to vomit, either from pregnancy or nerves.

I stood across from Steve, next to the priest. Steve thought it was important we got married by a priest, which was fine with me. I needed all the help from God I could get.

"Do you, Valencia Summers, take Steve Rogers as your lovely wedded husband, to have and to hold, in rich and in poor, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?" The priest asks me.

I stare straight at Steve, and start crying. I knew that, if he ever died or disappeared again, I would never ever recover. I would never laugh or smile again. I knew the same would be for him.

I knew that he and I loved each other to pieces.

I started crying kind of hard, so I just nod and whisper, "I do."

He asks Steve, who is not crying, the same question, and Steve says , "Yep. I mean, I do."

I laugh a little at his mistake, and let him lean me back to kiss me.

I was finally, finally, finally married to my true love.

We were swept up into the reception, which involved throwing cake in each other's faces, tossing the bouquet (which Jane and Thor's daughter, Emma, caught), and the first dance.

We partied all night at the Inn on the Sea.

Steve led me up the stairs to our suite at about 3:00 in the morning, the party having finally died down.

"Finally," he said, opening the bedroom door.

I enter and turn to stare at him, in his rumpled tuxedo. He looks just like he did in the doorway of our apartment the first time I came there. He looks also like he did on the sand in Hawaii.

He looks like himself.

He puts the Do Not Disturb tag on the door and pulls the sky blue door shut, locking it behind him. I smile, and pull his tie to lead him into the bedroom.

"So, Mrs. Rogers, what would you like to do first?" he asks, his face lighting up into a smirk.

"I'd like to check that it is you, Mr. Rogers, so you will have to promptly remove your shirt," I say, laughing as I say it.

He blushes, then unbuttons his dress shirt to reveal his muscled chest.

"Now, turn around," I command.

Once I see the tattoo, I smile. "All clear," I whisper in his ear, having to stand on my tiptoes to reach it.

And then he kisses me, and we fall into the bed.

At about 9:00 in the morning, I wake up, happy.

"Hello, husband," I say to Steve, who is reading a book. I recognize it as my copy of Twilight.

"Steve? Why are you reading my book?!" I yell.

"What? Oh, this. Sorry, I saw it on the dresser at home and I thought, 'Hey, what's this about?' So I brought it here to read," he blushes.

I roll my eyes at him. "Don't get any ideas, Edward," I mutter.

"What?" he asks, not hearing me.

"Nevermind, sweetie," I smile at him.

He gives me a stare, like he knows I said something smartassy.

"Well, okay?" he said, his voice raising at the end.

I look around the hotel room while Steve tries to figure out the television. It's an antique blue color, with antique white dresser and boudoir. The bed frame is also antique white iron, and I just get this rustic feel with it. There's a balcony facing the sea, with white curtains billowing out in the wind.

"Val? Hon, can you help me with this television?" Steve asks me.

I smile, laughing as I fix it for him. It turns on to a local news station, which shifts into The 700 Club.

We get up officially at 1:00 in the afternoon, me pulling on a sundress and a little makeup, Steve buttoning up a shirt and a pair of khakis.

We head down the stairs with our bags to the little restaurant, where Pepper and Tony are fondling their twins, Pepper holding Hank and Tony holding Sandi (you could tell them apart by their blue and pink clothing.)

"Hey," I smiled as we slid into the seats across from them.

Pepper smiled, and mouthed, "He's asleep," and pointed to Hank. Tony rolled his eyes at her and whispered to us, "How are the Mr. and Mrs. Rogers doing today?" He winked at me.

I roll my eyes and put my hands over my cheeks to hide my blush. "Fine," I whisper back. Steve grabs my hand from my cheek and holds it under the table.

Then I feel the morning sickness in my stomach and I barely make it to the bathroom in time to puke my wedding-cake-and-martini guts out. Pepper rushes in there after me.

"Oh, hon, are you okay?" she asks me, pulling my hair back as I wash my face in the sink.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm just ready for this sucker to leave," I smile at her, joking.

"I know what you mean. I felt like that- times two. Do you know the baby's gender?" she asks me as we wash our hands together.

"Well, no. I forgot to ask or look, I guess," I say, shocked that I could forget to ask.

"Hey, you are so far into it, I would just keep it a surprise. But what do you think it is?" she asks as we walk back to our table.

"A girl, most definitely," I say, smiling.

She gives me a look, then shakes her head and laughs at something she thought. "What names have you chosen?"

"Sharron Sarah Rogers, if it's a girl, Sharron because we like it and Sarah because it is his mom's name. If it's a boy, we'll name him Nate Bucky Rogers, Nate because it is a sweet name to me and Bucky because of Steve's old war buddy," I say as we slide into our seats.

I was going to continue talking, but I saw Steve holding Hank when we slid in and it was so sweet it made me cry. He was cradling him in his arms, making sweet faces at him to make him laugh. Hank grabbed Steve's finger and gnawed on it a little, staring at Steve. Steve was holding Hank like he was the most precious thing in the world and that, if he dropped him, the world would end or something.

It made me cry silently.

Steve looked up and saw me crying.

"Val, what's wrong?" he stood up instantly, almost forgetting about Hank. "Oh, sorry," he handed Hank over to Pepper.

"It's just… that's so, so, so sweet… to see you holding him," my voice cracked a little.

Tony was at the cash register, paying for his and Pepper's coffee. Pepper was packing the little ones up in their carriage.

Steve put his arms around my waist and I slid mine around his neck. "I think you're going to be a great mother, Val," he whispered in my ear.

"I know you'll be a great father," I whisper in his.

Chapter 33

We drove home and watched the little twins grow for a couple weeks. Steve and I bought some baby things and went house hunting a couple of times and settled on a large condo in a high rise two blocks from Stark Industries. We were just going to rent it for now, saving Steve's large fortune of interest and savings for a house in New Jersey which we would get later.

It was the last day we were going to stay over at Pepper and Tony's house. I was folding up some baby blankets and clothes we had bought and packing them into a suitcase for the condo. Tony was working at SHIELD on a new invention and Pepper was doing her CEO stuff. Steve and I, who were babysitting, were going to take the babies to a park a few blocks away. Steve had already taken the kids down stairs while I finished up packing.

I had just finished when the elevator dinged with the arrival of a group of people.

"Steve, I just finished," I turned to the elevator, assuming it was him.

Instead I was scared out of my mind.

I found Natasha, in a slutty leather dress with stiletto heels and piercing blue eyes I recognized as the eyes of a Tesseract influenced person. Along with her was Cheater Hoe Julia, who was dressed the same way as usual.

The thing that scared me, though, was my mother.

She was standing in the elevator and looked as she did 25 years ago, around when I was born. Her hair was orange and her skin was pale, her eyes were green and she was tall and slender. Although she looked young and beautiful, her clothes were still 40 year old Daphne Corvettey. She was dressed like the classic hoe, with tight leather clothes that were accentuated with animal fur. Her fishnet stockings had a run in them, like always, and her shoes were leather boots.

"Hello, dear Valencia," she smiled venomously. "Mother's home."

She and her groupies walked into the room and I briefly saw a glimpse of three bodies on the floor of the elevator.

"So, Valley girl, how have you been kicking it lately?" Daphne asks, strutting in slowly. "Tasha tells me you have been… married." She grabs my left hand and picks at the diamond rings on it. "Well, well, well, diamonds. Married rich, I guess?"

I spit on her.

"Oh, tsk, tsk, tsk, I guess your father never taught you. We don't _spit _on family," she pronounced carefully, letting bits of spit fly onto my face.

She reached behind her and I realized what she was grabbing.

The Tesseract stick.

I instantly caught flame, not letting that thing near me. Daphne freaked out, backing up squealing.

"Goodness, Valencia," she says. "It's not nice to play with fire. You'll ruin someone else's life."

"Speaking of ruining lives, your husband is great in bed," Julia giggled.

I was so angry I almost stopped the fire and went over to fight her, when it hit me: they wanted me to not catch fire so that they could touch me with the Tesseract stick.

We stood there for a few moments, the women taunting me.

"You must be happy about that wretched brick in your stomach," Daphne pointed to my stomach. "It's just another reason for Super Husband to leave you."

"What brick? She's always been fat," Natasha laughs.

This was how the teasing went. I felt like I was in one of those high school, _Mean Girls _movies.

Finally, they gave in.

Daphne sighed. "Tasha, give me the time."

"10 minutes here, Daphne," she says.

"Well, it's time to go, girls. If she can't be influenced, she can be killed. Or maimed. Or severely injured," Daphne smiled.

Daphne and Julia walked over to the elevator and went inside it. Natasha walked near it too.

I stopped the flames, because they were already inside the elevator.

That was my biggest mistake.

Natasha shot me in both knees and in one arm.

I stood long enough to watch them leave.

Then I fell to the ground in pain. I unconsciously starting burning, but it hurt too much because it melted the metal, so I fought to stop it. I laid there, my body bleeding out on the floor. I was losing consciousness when the elevator dinged again.

"Val, can you- oh my God. Val? Val!" three Steves ran over to me.

They picked my head up, but I didn't feel it.

"VAL! VAL! Oh my God," they kept repeating as they picked up my iPhone off the table.

I blacked out just for a moment.

I opened my eyes and I was on the balcony outside in Steve's arms. For the first time in my life, I was cold.

"Steve," I murmured. "I'm cold."

"Okay, um, the helicopter is here…" his voice faded away.

I looked up at him, watching his face as he talked to me. His mouth moved, his eyes were full of panic and scare, but I couldn't hear anything. I reached my uninjured arm up and rubbed his face.

I was getting hot again, burning up. It was like my nightmares, where I caught on fire and felt it.

"Steve," I murmur. "I'm hot."

His face, which is full of fear, twists to talk to someone else.

"She was… shot. By a… robber," I read his lips.

He started to lay me down on something soft, but I clung to him with both arms, the injured one hurting.

He lays me down anyway, putting what I need first.

I look beyond him, through the helicopter door, and see someone running up to the helicopter. I squint to see who it is.

Then the pain washes over me in a wave.

"Uh, uh, OW!" I yell out uncontrollably. I can see the hurt written all over Steve's face.

The medic comes over to give me pain meds. I point at my stomach as I'm losing consciousness. "Baby," I murmur, pointing at it. "BABY!" I yell at her as she tries to put a mask on my face.

Steve says something to her that I can't hear, and then Pepper's here yelling in their faces. We are lifting into the air, I feel, and I look out the window dizzily and see the buildings whizz by.

Steve comes over to me while Pepper talks to the nurse. He holds my uninjured hand, stroking my hot hair back off my face. I know he is saying something but I can't hear him, I can just feel his cool breath on my face.

I'm not focusing. There's a rim of light surrounding my vision, making the world I'm looking at fade.

I push through the fog. I have to hold on.

Hold on.

A medic is injecting a needle into me, Pepper looking at me worriedly.

Hold on.

Hold on.

Hold on.

I black out.

I wake up groggily in another room, a white room with metal tables. I see people in green masks and scrubs. Something is slicing into my belly, and I look to try to see what is hurting me, but a click comes from the IV machine and I'm sliding unconscious again, but I am sure that Loki is trying to kill me and the baby and that I will die.

I am so scared.

Chapter 34

I peek out of one eye.

I'm in a white room, and I remember why I am here. I start to sit up, but a wire restricts me.

Three nurses instantly run in. "Mrs. Rogers is awake!" they yell into the hallway.

They aren't the faces I need to see.

Tony and Pepper race in.

They are faces I want to see.

"Where… where… Ste?" I start, not able to talk that well.

Tony, who has his arm around Pepper, looks at her anxiously, then looks at me.

Steve runs in the room, to my right side of the bed, and kisses me.

"I… love… you… so… much," he said after each kiss. I knit my fingers in his hair.

A nurse clears her throat. "Mr. Rogers, we are going to have to ask you to get off of your wife for a few minutes… there are some _things _ you need to talk about with the doctor and your wife," she says. Pepper and Tony leave, along with the two quiet nurses. The noisy nurse stays. She checks my vitals on the machine, the basic run through.

"Alright, Dr. Barnes will be here any moment," she smiles as she leaves the room. On her way out, she rights something on two clipboards clipped to the door.

Steve kisses me again, harder. I can hear my heart monitor speed up, going from beep space beep to beep beep beep beep beep!

The nurse comes back in, gives him a look, and opens the door all the way for a tall, bearded man to enter.

He has white hair and a short white beard, and he reminds me of Santa Claus, except he is tall and fit, not fat and short. "Hello," his voice booms. "I'm Doctor Barnes." He holds out a hand, and I shake it.

"I'm Val Rogers," I smile back at him.

"Now, you suffered quite the run in with the burglar, didn't you?" he asks rhetorically, looking at a clipboard. "Luckily, both Mama Bear and Baby Cub are okay."

I am shocked. My eyes bug out, and I let go of Steve's hand to feel my belly… when I feel a scar.

"What… what… what," I stutter, looking from the doctor to Steve.

Doctor Barnes opens his mouth to speak, but he looks over to Steve first. Steve shakes his head.

"Well, when you came in, you were in such… critical condition that we needed to perform tests on you that would be harmful to your pregnancy. Because you were so close to your due date, we- meaning myself, Nurse June, your husband, and your aunt and uncle- decided that we would perform a Cesarean section to take out the little one, which we already did two days ago. Little baby is alright; doing wonderfully as a matter of fact. Would you like to hold her?" Doctor Barnes asks.

I don't respond; I am in shock. I am about to meet the little person who helped me through the darkest time in my life, the little person who has lived in me for 8 months, the little person that I haven't met but already love more than life itself.

Of course, I nod.

Noisy Nurse brings in a little pink bundle, smaller than I thought possible. She carefully positioned her in my arms.

And all I can do is laugh.

The little baby in my arms looks exactly like I imagined. She had dark ringlets of hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. Her little nose was just like mine, her little lips just like Steve's, and her toothless smile was just like mine, too.

I smiled as she latched onto my finger, sucking it. She was so beautiful, with her dark hair and freckles.

"Hi, baby Sharron," I smiled down at her.

She smiled a toothless grin at me. I looked over at Steve, who was so enthralled with her he didn't even notice my stare.

Dr. Barnes stood in the corner, watching us hold the baby. "If you should need anything else, just tell June. Otherwise, you should be out of here in about 5 days."

I smile at him. "Thank you."

He left.

I held the baby and talked in a soft voice to Steve, "What are we going to do?"

"You were out for four days. I… well, when you and Vera were both sleeping, I set up the apartment," he explained.

"Are you serious?" I ask. "You didn't have to do that!"

"I know, I just knew that the baby was coming home soon and that she'd need somewhere to sleep," he said, looking at the baby, not at me.

I could tell he was in love with her.

"Has she… caught on fire?" I ask him, whispering in case a nurse was around.

"Not that I know of, but I think if she will catch on fire, it will be when she is older," he says, stroking the baby's soft forehead.

I smile at him, but then something happens.

My leg is on fire.

"Oh, fuck!" I shout, handing Steve the baby.

The other leg is on fire.

I am trying not to burn the gurney, but to no avail. I feel myself slide down off the gurney, the end being burnt off. I also feel the drugs in my leg wear off. The stiches in my leg burn into nothing and the skin on my leg closes up over the hole in my flesh. My legs go back to normal flesh and then my arms and stomach catch on fire. The same thing happens again. I feel my bones snap back together.

This has happened to me before, when I was about 9. I had been in a car accident with my dad (he had been drunk driving) and had broken my arms and legs. The second the accident was over, my body caught on fire and I healed before the paramedics got to me.

The nurses raced back in, but I was not on fire any more. Steve, who already looked shocked, was stunned. I pretended to be hurt.

"Oh, Nurse, it was terrible! The electric charge from the machines caught the gurney sheets on fire! I was so scared!" I shout loudly, for Pepper and Tony in the doorway. They know I caught on fire, but not why.

Tony catches on. "We could sue you! How dare you allow these machines so close to the bed! I noticed the violation earlier, but I did not mention because I was comforting my wife!"

"Mr. Stark, we did not realize we had… violated any health care laws," the head nurse says.

"Well, make sure she's okay!" Pepper catches on.

They x rayed my legs and arms where the stitches and breaks were. Just as I thought, I was healed. "Miraculous" is the word they used to describe my recovery and I left the hospital two days later, when Sharron was allowed to leave.

Steve and I park in the special parking spot for homeowners and we go up the elevator to the 10th floor. He carries Sharron, and I carry her baby bag and my suitcase. We walk down to apartment 10 B, and he unlocks the door.

I can't believe my eyes when I walk in. When we bought it, it was a plain white mess of a room, with hard wood floors and not much else.

Now, the place is amazing.

The main room is the dining room, living room, and kitchen combined. To my left, a recently updated kitchen with marble counter tops sits on the hard wood floor. The walls are painted a sunshine yellow, with white accent walls. To my right, a breakfast nook sits next to a pantry. In front of me is a large living room area, with a black, leather corner couch that has a television in front of it and Steve's old coffee table. The walls beyond that are covered in books and bookshelves, with photos I recognize from Pepper and Tony's penthouse, my bedroom there, and Steve's house. There is a picture of Sharron's ultrasound too, and of Steve and I at our wedding and at Pepper and Tony's wedding.

In the middle of the bookshelf wall are two doors that lead onto a private balcony/patio area that overlooks Manhattan. Above the bookshelves is a railing and I realize that a staircase to my right leads up to a second floor, which consists of one bathroom and one bedroom. The bedroom is painted a chocolate brown, contrasting with the yellow, and I realize that all the teal accents on the bed and on the dresser are Pepper's touches, which I love. The picture of the bed, which is a collage-type thing with pictures of Steve and I, Pepper and Tony, the twins, a younger Pepper and I when I first stayed with her, and one of Steve a long, long time ago. The collage of pictures reads "family" and I realize that this is Steve and I's bedroom. I exit quickly, running back down the carpeted stairs to a room to the left of the stair case if you are on the stairs. The room is painted a light shade of blue, with one lavender accent wall that is covered with windows. In the middle of this room is a dark brown, wooden crib. Over this bed, a mural is painted that reads "sharron sarah rogers" in lavender with flowers painted on the letters.

I run out of that room and into a bedroom across from it. This bedroom is bright yellow, too, with a white bedspread and a black and white picture of the Empire State Building from its base looking up. I recognize the picture having been one I took when Steve and I went last year.

I run out of that room and into the living room, surrounded by a loft that I love.

I realize that I need to thank the person that I love the most.

I walk into Vera's room and watch Steve from behind as he places a tired Sharron into her tiny bed.

He turns around and smiles at me. He shuts the door behind him and walks out to talk to me. We sit on the couch and turn on the TV.

"So, do you like it?" he asks me casually.

"I love it," I say casually. He is sitting on one end of the couch and I am on the other.

We meet in the middle, kissing passionately. I run my hands in his hair and wrap my legs around his waist, as he slowly slips my shirt off my shoulders. My shirt slowly gets pulled down and off of me, just like I slowly pull his over his head. With my legs wrapped around his waist, he picks me up off of the couch and takes me up the stairs to the bedroom.

After a while, we stop and go to sleep, tired in the middle of the day.

Chapter 35

"And then we almost had her, but she threw a fireball at me. I was lucky to survive!" Daphne finished.

She was telling Loki about the way she, Natasha, and Julia were crushed by Valencia. He had already asked Natasha to tell him the truth and she said that they couldn't get anything because Valencia had caught on fire, so when she stopped Natasha just shot her.

"I'm sure it was," he lied anyway. He had learned it was better sometimes to lie to Daphne than to contradict her; for when he would need her for something she would pout and pout about it.

Loki would never tell Daphne this, but he was getting sick of the way his plan was turning out. Her offspring was keeping everything from working. She and Stark were the only ones who could stop the Hydra, yet they were the ones he couldn't control as hard as he tried.

A few moments of silence pass as he thinks about plans and how to defeat the weeds that would not die.

Daphne interprets this silence as a reason to kiss, and she pins Loki against the wall kissing him. Loki plays along, but inwardly he is planning.

He knows, through a hired nurse, that Valencia had her baby AND survived the gun wounds. She also left PERFECTLY HEALTHY from the hospital THREE DAYS early. He had a Hydra kill that idiot human nurse. Loki also learned, through other sources, that Valencia and Steve moved away from Tony and Pepper, but not to their apartment in Brooklyn. He was still searching for them.

Valencia, Loki decides, is like a bug: you can try all you want to catch them with gadgets and such, but it is best to crush them with a shoe and get it over with.

He has a final plan that will work this time.


	10. Chapter 36-38

Chapter 36

~Exactly seven months pass from June 24th, the day that Sharron was born.~

I wake up with someone nudging my face.

"Ma," a sweet voice calls.

I open one eye, winking at the sweet baby calling my name and her sweet father.

"Morning, baby," I smile at her.

She laughs, and I take her from Steve to feed her.

The clock reads 7:30. "Someone's up early," I coo to sweet Sharron.

Steve goes to the dresser and pulls on a shirt and jeans for the day. "Yeah, I was reading and I heard her, so I went and got her out of her crib."

"I was talking to Shari, hon," I tease him. We call her Shari now, because, when the twins started babbling baby words, they called her "Share", like Pepper taught them.

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes, smiling. He buckled his belt, no shirt on yet, and came over to kiss me. "You want some coffee?"

"Yes, please," I smile, kissing him. "But my cup, not yours." He liked a little dash of whiskey in his coffee, while I would rather have coffee with cream and four sugars.

I held little Shari as she finishes, then I stand up and gently rock her back and forth as I leave the room and look at the bookshelves.

We have more pictures now, and more books. The new books include photo albums, dictionaries, and new classics like _Silver Linings Playbook, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, _and all 7 _Harry Potter _books, which I enjoy more than Steve does. The new photos include Shari at her first Christmas, which was last month, her first Thanksgiving, and her first July 4th party. We also have some of her with her great-grandparents (my grandparents) who visit Shari when they visit the twins. There are also some of Steve and I doing various things, holding Shari, kissing, smiling, hugging, and even one of us drinking at Pepper and Tony's first anniversary party. We have a lot of the twins and Tony and Pepper. We have a lot of family shots, too, of our family, Pepper's family, and our families together. We have a million pictures of when we went to the beach last October.

We have a few records and a record player, which Steve loves. I prefer to listen to my iPhone music. We have, of course, the Beatles Hits record, along with several 1940's and 1930's records. Shari loves to listen to the Beatles and Hootie and the Blowfish for whatever reason, so we also have a couple of Hootie records for when she can't go to sleep.

Steve and I are happy. I still wakeup screaming from nightmares at least once a week, but instead of Tony's attempts at fake comfort, Steve is there to hold me when I shake from the scare.

We haven't seen much of Loki, or the Hydra, and that kind of scares me. I hide it, though; keep the fear hidden inside like Tony, Steve, and all the other Avengers do. It scares me to think about it, the fact that Loki and my mother are plotting my death and the death of all my loved ones while I am happy.

Shari hasn't shown any sign of being firey,

"Val," Steve whispers in my ear, sneaking up on me. He puts his hand on my waist and pulls my close to his chest.

"Hey," I whisper, both of us looking down at Shari.

"Your coffee is brewing," he whispers in my ear. Apparently, when I was drowning, him whispering "saved my life" so he likes to do it all the time. I don't mind, but I pretend it annoys me.

"Also, can I ask you a favor?" he whispers again.

"What?" I ask.

"Will you go to the old people home with me? I need to visit a friend," he whispers again.

I turn around and face him. "Who? One of your friends is still alive? Steve, that's great!" I shout, happy for him. He didn't have that many friend in the 1940's, I gathered, and I also gathered all of them were dead.

I studied his face, and realized he was blushing. "Who is it?" I ask seriously.

"Well, she's…. she's, um, well, I… I can show you, if you want," he stutters.

I nod.

He grabs the photo I knew he was going to grab- the sepia photo of the beautiful woman. "This is… well, this is Peggy Carter. She was… um, kind of my girlfriend in the war. She worked for SHIELD, and we only ever kissed once. We were going to get in… a deeper relationship, once we ended the war, I think. But, of course, that didn't work out. I think… if I had lived back then, we would have gotten married. I liked her a lot. But I didn't… you know, love her the way I love you. Anyway, so I went to the grocery store last week, and I took the long way home and got stuck in traffic. I was looking around and I saw an elderly home, and I wondered if she was still alive. So, when I got home, I researched her and found her as Peggy Carter-Forman at Lovely Oaks Elderly Home, in Trenton, New Jersey. I thought that… today we could go visit her?" he asks me.

I think for a second.

"Okay," I sigh.

"Good," he smiles. "I signed us up to go today at 3:00, so get ready! It takes about an hour to get over there."

I smile and kiss him, the baby in my arms. "On one condition," I whisper on his lips. "I get shower first."

He sighs. "Whatever," he says, trying to sound depressed but I know he is excited. I hand him the baby and run off into our room, getting in the shower before he can stop me.

Chapter 37

"But, Master Loki, I'm not sure what you're suggesting," Ender asked, confused.

Loki had just explained his plan to him… three times. Each time, Ender could not wrap his insolent sand mind around the plan.

"Look, it's like this. We know we can't stop all the Avengers completely, because one of them always has the guts to keep moving. Instead, we delay them long enough that we can attack," Loki slowly annunciated his words.

Finally, it clicked in Ender's imbecile mind. If the Hydra king had one intelligent thought, it would be lonely. Loki knew that being on Earth with its wind and water and light for so long had started to solidify the Hydra into mucky wet sand people that couldn't change form as fast.

_Patience, _Loki thought to himself. _Ender is the key to the army and if you piss him off, there will be another world angry with you. _

"I'll just let you think that plan over a bit," Loki stood up, not able to take the idiot any longer.

"When we will we put it to action?" Ender asked.

"Well, by all means, tonight!" Loki shouted over his shoulder to him.

Chapter 38

"What's your name?" the disgruntled, middle aged nurse behind the counter looks me up and down.

"Rogers. Val…" I start.

"Steve, and Shari Rogers, ma'am," Steve finishes. The woman instantly smiles at Steve.

"Well, come right this way, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers," she leads us down the hallway.

I'm carrying Shari as we go down the long, cream colored hallway. Some of the doors are open, and I could see people doing many different things inside; some people were crying, talking, sitting, watching TV, and even just staring out the window.

We stop at room 224. The fat nurse says to Steve, "If you need anything, call me."

His eyes bog out of his head as the flirty nurse walks away. "I'll… I'll go in first," he says, and I stay outside the door with Shari. From what I see through the swinging door, an old woman is in a wheelchair facing the window. She turns to face Steve, and I can see that her beauty has survived the years. Her eyes are still a lovely chocolate brown, her white hair pulled up into an elegant bun.

"Steve?" I hear her question.

"Hi, Peg, it's me," he smiles at her, slowly crossing the room.

The door swings closed, but I can still hear their conversation.

"I heard that they pulled out of the ocean," her elegant voice says. "I also saw you on television."

"Yes, ma'am, that was me," he confirmed, and I heard him sit down next to her.

"Don't call me ma'am, you're older than I am," she teased him.

He laughed an aged laugh that sounded like he was, indeed, 91 years old.

"How have you been, Peggy? Really," he says to her, serious. I can hear in his voice the heartache, the way you always feel about your first love.

"I… I got over you, Steve. I got married to a great man, named Reginald Forman, and we had five kids. I have about ten great grandchildren now, Steve, and… as much as I wish I could say otherwise, you weren't the right dance partner for me. And, even though Reggie is dead, I can't get in a relationship with you, because it isn't right for an old woman in a half-dead body to keep an old man in a young body to herself," she says to him.

A silence covers the air.

"Oh, Peg, you aren't my dance partner either. I… I got married last May, and have a daughter, too. I came for… closure. My wife, Val, she's excellent. I love her so much… she's funny, and kind, and nice, too. She loves me a lot, even though I'm so out of touch with her world, you know."

"You love her," Peg sounds sad.

"More than anything," he sighs.

A silence blankets the room again.

"Well, they are outside, if you'd like to meet them," Steve says to Peg.

"Oh, what the hell, bring them in," she says.

Steve opens the door. "Hon, you can come in now," he smiles at me. The door shuts behind him as he steps out into the hallway.

"Are you sure she wants to see me?" I whisper, knowing how sound passes through the walls.

"Yes," he brushes back part of my hair, reaching down to kiss me.

I savor his kiss, smiling.

I tote little Shari on my hip as I walk in the room.

Peg looks at me. "Hello, Val," she smiles. "I'm Peggy. And who is that little one?"

"Shari, or Sharron, she doesn't care," I smile stupidly. I feel really stupid and clumsy around this elegant woman.

Peg smiles this half smile. "I have a niece named Sharon. Why, look at your dark ringlets. Did you get those from your mommy or your daddy?" Peg cooed to Shari. "How old is she?"

"Um… about…. No, exactly seven months. Seven months old today," I say.

"Oh, well, that's nice. Steve, will you go fetch me some water?" she orders Steve. I look at him with a face of panic and scare. His face looks pained because of my nervousness, but he goes anyway.

"Listen, Val. I need to tell you something important and don't give me any bullshit, 'Nana Peg this,' or 'Mrs. Forman that'. Got it?" she asks me, the sweet grandma voice gone.

"Yes," I nod.

"That boy… he loves you something fierce. He came in here earlier and talked my ear off about you, and if you ever leave him for any reason but death, I will personally come down from Heaven and whoop your pretty little ass until it falls off your body. Capiche?" she asks me in her Peg Forman voice, not Nana Peggy.

I nod.

"Well…. Good then, I guess," she says, back to Nana Peggy. She mouths, "He's back," and points to the door.

"Yes, that's why I love babies and gin," Peg smiles, like she is ending a long story.

"How interesting," I smile. Her eyes still remain steel, like Peg Forman, but her voice is soft.

"Mrs. Forman, it's time for your medicine!" the nurse from the front desk bursts into the room. She deliberately bumps into Steve and pushes me over, despite the fact I am holding a baby.

"Sorry," she smirks.

The nurse injects a sleeping medicine into Peg's IV. "Well, I'll see you soon," Peg yawned, the medicine kicking in.

"Be good," Steve murmurs as he reaches down to kiss her forehead.

I could see his eyes glistening with some tears, and I realized that he was letting her go.

I grabbed his hand and led him quietly out of the room.

The nurse frowned. "You should have said your goodbyes. Mrs. Forman hasn't been doing so well- she's been sleeping more and more and remembering less and less each day," the nurse confided in Steve.

We left the nursing home, and went into the car. I put Shari in her car seat, where she fell asleep instantly. I sat down in the passenger seat of our new Acura MDX, and saw Steve staring off into the distance, a million miles (and several decades) away.

He starts the car, and we drive the hour long drive home in silence.

We pull up in front of our building, and Steve is still quiet.

I let him think for a while, waiting for him to talk.

"Was it hard, for you?" he finally asks me.

"Was what hard?" I ask, confused.

"Deciding to let your father go. I mean, you didn't really love him, it was more of a "like" love thing. Was it hard for you to decide to move to New York with Pepper, a thousand miles away from everything you've ever known?" he asks me, still gazing out the window.

"No." I answer too quickly. "Well, I mean, I did love him in a distant way, and I didn't want to leave him to his own devices because I care about him, but I knew that if I stayed with him any longer, I would drown."

"Drown?" Steve turns and looks at me.

"You know, drowning is like suffocating. And, if I had stayed in Jenkins, all my dreams would have been suffocated and drowned, and I would end up like every other person there," I explain. Now it's my turn to stare off into the distance.

He pushes a wisp of my hair back off of my forehead and behind my ear. "Val," he whispers. "Guess what?"

"What?" I ask, focusing on him.

"I love you," he smiles.

"Ditto," I smile back.

We kiss softly, in the front of the car. We talk for an hour, about things. We would have talked longer if Shari hadn't felt the need to wake up and cry. I picked her up and Steve grabbed her bag, and we went inside the building. As we rode up the elevator, Steve and I laughed with our neighbor, Bob Pinciotti (an older man stuck in the 1970's with a curly black afro and potbelly). We got off on our floor, and walked down the hallway. Steve went on the other side of the elevator to get our mail as I went over to our apartment.

The door wasn't locked, which was odd because I had locked it.

I entered the room and saw a woman facing the wall, so all I saw was her back.

She had long, orange hair.

I screamed, frightened out of my mind. Mom had come back! No!

Steve ran down the hall and grabbed me from behind. Just then, Tony appeared up on the loft, walking out of our bedroom.

"Wha… what?" I ask, confused.

"Damn, Steve, you guys were supposed to be here half an hour ago!" Tony shouts at Steve.

The woman turned around, and I saw Pepper changing the twins.

I take in my apartment, and realize a "Happy Birthday!" sign has been strung up by the ceiling, a cake was sitting on the counter, and Bruce, Thor, and Jane were out on the patio.

"What?" I ask.

"Well, since your birthday was late December, Pepper's is early January, mine is early February, and Jane's is the middle of January, we thought we would have a big party and somebody said we could have it at your house," Tony explained, glaring at Steve.

Steve was drawing a blank. "I thought this was next week," he admitted.

I, still scared, fake a smile to show my appreciation. "Well, it looks beautiful!"

I fake a smile all night, scared the hell out of my mind.

I felt unsettled, like someone was watching us the whole night. I clung to Steve most of the night, always touching him. He felt really bad, I could see it on his face. I tried lying and saying I was fine, but he could see right through it.

We went to blow out the candles on the cake.

"Happy birthday to you!"

A swishing sound came from outside.

"Happy birthday to you!"

It got louder.

"Happy birthday, dear Pepper, Tony, Val, and Jane!"

The windows were shaking.

"Happy birthday to you!"

The windows broke open, bursting open with sand.

I was being drowned, drowned in sand, and I clutched Shari as close to me as possible. I heard Pepper calling out and the twins crying; I heard a lot of screaming from the sand; I heard someone trying to move through the storm. I wished as much as I could that I could have Steve holding me, and painful flashbacks flowed through my mind and I almost threw up. I clutched Shari harder to my chest, slowly crying.

I thought it would never end, never stop.

But then it did.

I was surrounded by mirrors, two inches taller than I was. Because of this, I could see the balcony and the tops of others' mirrors, but I couldn't really see anyone. Loki appeared on the balcony.

"Hello," he smiled a cruel smile.

I tried to keep my face hard like stone, but it was so hard when I was coughing out sand and helping Shari get out her sand.

I guess Thor about jumped out of his mirror, and that's why Jane cried out.

"No, no, no," Loki laughed. "This is a game," his voice rang out over the room. He wasn't on the balcony anymore, but I wasn't going to give in.

He appeared on all of my mirrors, even though he wasn't near me.

"Every time you try to fight, you and your spouse's mirrors will get closer and closer to you. If you touch them, they will dissolve into sand. Like this," he says, and reached through the mirror to pull me closer to the mirror. "And for you, Hulky, it applies double. Because you are forever alone."

I touched it accidentally, and the sand opened into a gaping hole, leading into God knows where. I couldn't help but to scream, and I pushed Shari the way opposite the hole. Then, the hole closed and sand rained down on me, sinking in my mouth and suffocating me to the point where I almost died, but then it let up. I felt light headed and tired, and I could almost sleep and I needed to lean against something, anything, but then suddenly the feeling stopped.

"Val! Val, are you o…." Steve's voice is drowned out.

"No, no, no, no, no," I whisper. I am paralyzed with fear. Everyone I love will die, everything I love will die, everything I am will die, I will die. I will die in this circle of mirrors. I will die. I will die. I will die.

My heart beat galloped at the tune of I will die, I will die, I will die.

Loki was talking again, but I wasn't listening. I was holding Shari close to my chest and was praying she wouldn't have to die with me, that she could live.

"Don't test these henchmen," he smirked. "They are deadly. Now, I must be on my way. World ruling to do."

He was gone, and my mirrors were filled with guilt. Eight mirrors surrounded me. On one mirror, stood my mom, calling me no good. On the next, stood my dad, too drunk to help me. On the third, Tag was staring at me and yelling for me to act like a good girlfriend. On the fourth stood Pepper, frowning at me, my life. On the fourth stood Tony, calling me names and yelling curses at me. On the next, stood my college friends, June and Henry, telling me that my fucking messiness wouldn't cut it. On the sixth stood Dr. Bruce, yelling at me to get my act together. The seventh, Nick Fury and the others doing the same.

And on the eighth, the eighth and final mirror, stood Steve. He was staring at me, the way he stared at me the night the Hydra took him. I wanted to cry as I saw him, staring at me like I was the worst thing he had ever seen.

The mirrors caught on, and soon all the mirrors were absorbed with Steve, yelling at me, kissing other women, telling me I was no good, drinking, and cursing. I didn't care about those, I knew they weren't real.

The mirror caught on, and all the mirrors blanked out except the one directly in front of me. It was just Steve staring at me, a deathly glare. It made me want to die. I began crying, the tears falling down my cheeks.

I wish he was there to comfort me then.

But he wasn't.

He heard my crying, though, over the mirrors, and called out a promise that was purely for comfort and nothing else. "Val! I'm coming to help you!"

We were going to be stuck here forever, stuck between all the mirrors. Shari reached out and touched her tiny hand against the mirror, and I began to scream. I knew that, if the mirrors shrunk much more, Steve would fall into the hole because he was- let's face it- muscular and huge.

But the funniest thing happened.

Her hand was flaming as she touched it.

And the mirror broke down where she touched it.

It was a HYDRA mirror.

"Shari, you're a genius!" I shout, and I think of all the reasons to be mad; Mom, Dad, Loki, the Hydra, the hate I had to bear, the guilt.

And I caught fire, my daughter with me.

We burnt the mirrors.

I ran over to the couch and sat Shari down quickly. She was flaming, but that's okay.

I ran from mirror to mirror.

One, two, three, burn.

Thor.

Jane.

Pepper and a baby.

Tony and a baby.

Bruce.

There was only one more, in the corner. I burst through the fake glass, a pile of ash around me.

He hugs me, flames and all, before I can say anything.

"We have to go stop Loki," I say, looking around at everyone.

"She's right," Tony says. "I have my suit in the guest room."

"What?" I ask.

"A spare," he says, already in the guest room.

Steve runs upstairs and I follow him, going into our closet and pushing the panel that reveals two suits. I pull on mine, not facing him, and run out of the room, ready to go. Tony, Thor, and Dr. Banner are ready, and Pepper, Jane, the twins , and Shari are going to stay with Bob next door, who "coincidentally" "just so happens" to be a SHIELD undercover agent. His name isn't even Bob Pinciotti; he stole his name and clothes from a _That 70's Show _character.

We all moved to the balcony, gaping at the sights below.

Masses of sand are flying around and entering the nearest human passerby, consuming their insides.

I gasp as I watch the takeover happen. A woman running down the street, screaming, is surrounded by sand for a few moments, and then the sand is gone and she is quiet, no longer running, just walking down the street with a disturbingly calm face.

"We have to go," Thor says bravely, lightning striking on the street below. It killed one Hydra.

Thor leaves, and Dr. Bruce jumps off the building, already changing. I fear for him.

Tony is kissing Pepper in the corner, and Pepper is smoothly stroking his cheek, tears running down hers.

He backs away, pulling his mask down. I know he'll be safe; none of his body parts are open.

"You gonna be okay kid?" he asks me.

"Yeah," I smile, lightly punching his metal arm.

Tony then flies up and off our small patio, shooting out fire balls as he goes.

Steve lightly strokes my cheek. I grab his hand as it touches my face, and hold it there.

"If you need my help, scream," I say seriously. He is the one I am most worried about, what with his mouth, ears, and nose exposed.

"Ditto," he smiles, trying to joke.

It's not funny.

I grab his hand and pull him down off the balcony with me, already flaming.

"Drop off, three, two, one," I whisper into my headset.

"Love you, Val," he says as he drops.

"Too," I whisper.

I push him aside, for I have to be angry or in danger to stay firey this long. I thought about my mom, as I blasted the Hydra. I thought about how she betrayed me, leaving to become a stripper. I thought about my dad, being a drunk who can't take care of his own daughter. As a mom, I know that they never loved me, because I love Shari and could never leave her. I thought about all the kids who bullied me, all the family members that never helped me, all the things anyone had ever whispered about me.

I was pretty mad as I blew up dozens of Hydra, soaring over the streets. Tony flew next to me, talking over his speakers.

"This is… no, this was premeditated. Loki had already thought this through," Tony says, sounding both pissed and deep in thought.

"Where would he be?" I ask over my new headset microphone, attached to my sunglasses. The glasses also analyze faces, bringing up files and such on each face. I'm searching for Loki, but the glasses keep narrowing in on random people that don't fit the description at all.

"He would be wherever he thought he had an advantage. And that would be… I know where he is." Tony's voice is muddled, and he was obviously thinking very hard.

"Where? Where is he?" I ask, confused.

Tony was already on the speakers, talking to every SHIELD member or Avenger. "Attention, this is your captain speaking. Loki is presumed to be located in Stark Tower, penthouse level. If you can aid us, now is your chance. If you can't, well, fuck you. Shut off traffic by Grand Central and put the building on lockdown, if you can. Thanks, we should be landing in an estimated 30 minutes," he says.

"Fury's gonna be pissed," I laugh over my headset to him.

"That stick in the mud is always pissed," Tony shook it off. We were over Grand Central now, and were only a street over from Stark Tower. We started flying up, and I had to stall a second to wait for Tony to get up. I saw Thor was already there on the patio, along with Clint. Clint was looking rough, tired, and he had a beard.

We landed on the patio, me slowing my burning to just my fists as I know how much Pepper loves her rugs and patio furniture. I see Loki and a couple of other people sitting in the living room.

We walk in. Loki is sitting with my mother on the couch, a bottle of Tony's vodka in her hand. An almost exact copy of Lenny Kravitz is sitting in the chair next to them, his eyes golden and flashing from one side of the room to the other. At the counter sits a pouty Julia, from the party, and she keeps flashing from Kim Kardashian to herself to Megan Fox, trying to get someone's attention. Natasha is sitting next to her, drinking a martini.

"I'm glad you mother fuckers are comfortable," Nick Fury chimes from behind us, twenty SHIELD members with him. "Because we're about to whoop your alien asses."

"When did they get here?" I whisper to Tony behind my hand.

He shrugs and puts his hand out, aiming at Lenny. "Lenny, need you to step outside, along with the rest of you."

I hold my flaming fist up, too, and Thor holds his hammer menacingly. Behind us, I hear twenty guns click and I see Clint load up his bow with a flaming arrow.

"Fine, fine," Loki says, standing up. "Come along, friends, let's do as the humans ask."

My mother stands up first, the others following her. She and Loki walk out, arms around each other, and I feel the need to vomit uncontrollably. Next comes Lenny Kravitz, trailed by Natasha and Julia-Megan-Kim. I feel sickened because I can feel the eyes of some of the SHIELD male members following her.

"Now, what is your name, Mr. Kravitz?" Tony shouts out.

"Ender," Lenny replies, his voice making my skin crawl.

Thor stares in disgust, eyes squinting. Lenny realizes that this was a mistake, for there was an Asgardian standing there that he obviously didn't know about.

"What is your name, Kardashian?" Tony shouts at Julia.

"Zhangana," she smirks at me.

"Alright, now Zhangana, Ender, and Loki, we are going to…" Nick starts.

A laugh fills the night air as Loki, Ender, and Zhangana disappear. My mother is smirking.

"Grab her!" I shout. "The ginger bitch is human!"

Instantly two SHIELD members run forward and tranquilize her, pulling her into the penthouse without a sound. Two others run forward and tranquilize Natasha, who goes willingly. I know that, if she had wanted to, she would have fought and escaped.

I heard a wind sound behind me, and I also hear the sounds of, "Oh shit!" and "Mother of God!"

I turn to see the largest Hydra I had ever seen.

The sand giant was taller than the Stark building, and it had no features or colors; it was just the sand colored shape of a giant man. I looked down and saw that the tiny people that were being attacked earlier by sand were not anymore.

This was the mother load of Hydra.

They instantly started shooting at it, and Tony circled it with electronic flames flying out from his hands every other second. Thor was striking lightning at it, and Clint was shooting arrows as fast as he could reload his bow.

The flames were not enough. It was like poking tiny tacks into a person; they pricked but didn't kill.

Steve came over my speakers. "Val, can you bring me up there? I'm in front of Grand Central, we just closed it down."

"Got it," I say back, taking off past the Hydra. I burned through the arm to get to the station.

"Pick up in three, two, one," I grab him up from the street.

"Take me over to the Hydra thing, please," he says over the headset.

"What?! No!" I shout.

"No, seriously, I need you to take me over there. They need my help, on the balcony," he lied.

I fake agreeing with him. "Okay," I sigh. "Stay safe."

"I promise."

I know that he knows that he is going to go fight the Hydra monster on top of it.

I drop him off on top of the thing's shoulder, letting him fight it.

I float off nearby, throwing fire balls at the monster's chest. I look at its left arm; everything below the elbow is gone.

I wonder what happened while I was gone. And then I realize.

I burned off the lower arm because I was full fire!

I know what to do, so I go on my headset.

"Everyone on the Hydra monster engaged in combat, step off so that I may defeat it," I shout to all those with headsets in range.

I step back to the penthouse's glass doors, and take a deep breath. I catch fire and start running.

I see Tony fly off.

I am half way across the patio.

I see Thor pull Bruce off.

I am jumping off, soaring through the air for a millisecond. Then I am crashing through the sand, which is conforming around me to try to contain me and stop me. I have too much speed, though, and I blast through the giant to the other side. I am flying so fast I can only stop a block away from Stark Tower.

I see the giant split in half, falling to the ground. The sand is no longer sand, but black ash.

"Yes!" I shout. "I did it!"

But then I see something not ash falling to the ground rapidly.

Steve.

"Oh shit!" I shout, racing back to the giant.

Steve is closer to the ground.

I can hardly breathe, or fly for that matter because I am crying and my fire is dying out and I can't see, I can't see.

Steve hits the ground.

I am there, and I stumble across the asphalt of the road, tripping over him and landing in an awkward, straddling position.

"Oh, Steve, oh, Steve," I sob, holding his limp hand. I can't feel for a pulse or hear one because my heart is pounding in my ears. I am breaking down, breaking down, and I can't even see.

Then I push Val aside and become just another person.

I developed this technique growing up in the park. I was only about 5 or 6 when I had it mastered. With Mom, Dad, and all the bullies yelling at me, I just pushed my feelings away and became a stony mask. I guess you could say I "built a wall" and "protected my feelings". I hadn't used it in years.

I began performing CPR.

I couldn't hide myself all the way, though, and as I performed CPR, I was cursing at him. "You promised! Steve, you fucking promised me! You said you would stay safe! You promised me! You promised! You said you were going to stay safe! Why did you break your promise? You promised!"

I gave up on CPR, and just collapsed onto him, worn out from the fire and the stress. Whenever I do full body fire for a long amount of time, I get dehydrated and suffer from heat exhaustion.

"Steve, you promised me, you son of a bitch," I cried on his chest, beating it with my fists. "You promised you would stay," I whispered, just lying down now, not moving but to sob.

I ran my fingers softly through his hair, which was blackened with ash, and ran my fingers gently over his cuts on his chest and arms. I softly burnt his burn mark, to see if he'd miraculously wake up, but he didn't. I wasn't crying now.

"Oh, Steve," I sighed, fingering my wedding band. It was vibranium, too, and in it read the lyrics of "Something".

I began singing it softly, my hands trembling. I brushed his ashy hair back out of his eyes, and kissed his lips softly.

I started to stand up, and walk away.

I ended up tripping, and falling over like an idiot.

"No! No! God, why? He was the only person to be fucking good to me the whole time I knew them! Please, God, please. If not for me, for Shari, please. I can't be a single mother," I scream and cry.

I hear a cough and a sputter.

"Help," a dry, hoarse voice calls out softly. "Help."

I turn around, my eyes closed. I didn't want to believe it.

"Val," the voice whispers.

I open one eye and see Steve's eyes open.

"Steve, oh my God, Steve, oh my God, Steve," I sob.

"Hey," he tries to smile.

"Hey," I smile through my tears, softly stroking his cheek.

"Love share," he whispers, his head nodding to the side, falling asleep.

"No, Steve, you have to stay awake, hon. For me and Shari," I say to him.

"What?" his head pops back up.

"Pop quiz," I say.

"Okay," he smiles.

"Which actor was the main character in Saturday Night Fever?" I spout off.

"Travolta," he smiles. "Easy."

"Who was president when we went to the moon?"

"Kennedy."

"Which president was involved in Watergate?"

"Nizon." His words were slurred.

"Who sung Thriller?"

"Michael Jackson."

"Is Michael Jackson…" I slap his face to get his attention. "Hey! Is Michael Jackson alive?"

"No."

"Who loves Katniss?"

"Peeta."

"Name a Nirvana song."

"Smells Like Teen Spirit."

"Name a Beatles song."

"Something."

"Where did Elvis Presley die?"

"Memphis."

"Which show is Kelso from?"

"That 70's Show."

"What show is Kramer from?"

"Seinfeld."

"Name a Whitney Houston movie."

"The Bodyguard."

"Who was John Lennon's second wife?"

"Yoko Ono."

I saw Tony and some SHIELD members rushing over to us.

"Okay, okay, okay. Name an Avril Lavigne song."

"Complicated."

"Fill in the blank. Wayne Campbell and…"

"Garth Algar."

"Saturday Night Live questions, I see?" Tony asks me as he slowly pulls me off of Steve. I can't stand, so I slump against him. I try to hide my heat exhaustion, but Tony senses it and holds me in a position that looks like I'm standing but I'm not.

"To keep him focused," I say, not able to focus myself.

"Capital of Hawaii," Tony asks, knowing I'm about to black out from dehydration.

"Honolulu," I push out the black spots.

"President of the United States after Lincoln."

"Andrew Johnson."

"And where was he from?"

"Tennessee."

We were starting to fly up, to Tony and Pepper's penthouse, I guessed.

"And the capital of Tennessee is…"

"Nashville."

"Where are we right now?" he asks, trying to get me to focus.

"New York City."

"In what state?!" he yells at me.

"Fucking New York, dumbass!" I yell back.

I calm down. "Thanks, Tony," I say as we land on the patio. Now he is all but carrying me.

"No problem, kid."

The world turns into a blur when he sets me down on the couch. Pepper hovers over me, giving me water and food, taking my temperature, and wiping strands of hair out of my face. I hold Shari for a time, while Pepper is talking. I know I am really dehydrated, because I can hardly keep my eyes open.

"Nope, drink," a random SHIELD member pours water in my mouth.

I hear Nick Fury yelling. "They were down there for three hours? Why the hell didn't you get down there earlier? Now they're both almost dead!"

"We couldn't fucking find her, Nick. She had melted down her headset and his was crushed, so we couldn't talk to them." This sounds like Tony.

I started to slump again, but this time the SHIELD member takes Shari into her arms and lets me lay down on the couch and sleep.


	11. Chapter 39- Epilogue

Chapter 39

I wake up only an hour or so later, but I feel a lot better.

"Val, how ya feeling, hon?" Pepper asks. The pent house is empty now, with only Pep and I in it.

"How long did I sleep?" I ask.

"Only about an hour or so, I guess," she says.

I remember Steve and burst out of the chair.

"Where is he, Pepper? You can't hide him from me, not like last time," I say.

"He's at the hospital," she says, "Like you should be."

"Where's Sharron?" I ask, ignoring her comment.

"She's sleeping with the twins in their bedroom. Don't worry," Pepper said.

I still got up and went to look for her in their room. She was in there, with the twins, but a man was in there. I almost screamed.

"Pepper!" I whisper screamed.

"That's just Tagger. Calm down, he works for SHIELD. You probably know him better as… Bill?" she asked.

"Bob," Tagger turned around.

He was Bob Pinciotti, from next door, but he had changed. He wasn't, in fact, middle aged or potbellied. He was a trim, fit young man with short brown hair that had been trimmed evenly.

"Sorry I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Jonathan Taggert, nice to meet you, Mrs. Rogers," he shook my hand.

It was Tag, from home. He recognized me, too, but he could tell by my expression that I didn't want to talk to him or deal with him right now.

"Nice to meet you, Taggert," I smile thinly. I don't have enough energy to play around.

I am hallucinating, and I know I need help, because I can see a crow in the corner squawking at me, and I see Abe Lincoln's hat on the dresser.

I blink and try to focus.

"I need to go see Steve," I say to Pepper, leaning against the wall so that it doesn't crush me.

"Are you okay?" she asks, touching my forehead.

"I'm fine! I need to go see Steve," I yell, like a child.

"Fine, we have to drive to the SHIELD hospital. Get on your shoes," she says.

I walk over to my shoes, but they keep getting farther and farther away. Finally, I reach them and realize I am sweating from effort.

"Are you coming?" Pepper asks from the elevator.

"Yes," I huff, walking an eternity over to Pepper.

We shoot down the elevator and hop in the car, which is not as far. I sleep a little on the ride to the hospital, and when we get out, Pepper stares at me for a few moments.

The sleep has helped, and I'm not hallucinating as much.

I walk to the elevator and am about to ride up to whatever floor Steve is on when a man stops me. He has salt-and-pepper hair, with a wide smile and blue eyes that look a lot like mine.

"Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am," he shrugs, pulling the hand of an African American woman behind him. She has an afro that looks great on her, and curves with long legs that make her look younger than she is.

The couple walks off, and I call after the man. "I'm sorry, sir, but are you by any chance a Hector Summers?" I ask, feeling like an idiot.

"Actually, yes," he looks confused. "Why would you…. Oh my, oh my. Helena, this is her. Are you Valencia Summers?"

I stiffen up. "It's Valencia Rogers, now," I say, stiffly.

"Oh, that's right, I saw you got married a couple of months ago. Well, um, congratulations," he said.

An awkward silence coated the air.

"Well, I've got to get go…" I start, heading for the elevator.

"Wait," he says, grabbing my shoulder. "I… I want you to know that I sobered up after you left. I realized my life was a train wreck and that I was an alcoholic, so I started going to AA meetings. Those weren't enough, so I sold the trailer and drove up to a rehab center in Memphis. There I completed rehab and met Helena Martin, and we met up a few months later at a shopping center and I asked her out. A year or so later, we got engaged. So, Valencia, this is Helena, my wife. She has two kids, Heaven and Marcus, so they are like my children," he said, introducing me to the woman at his side.

"Hi, Val Rogers, nice to meet you," I shake her hand.

"I have a daughter, too," I say to dad. "Sharron Sarah Rogers." I show him a picture on my iPhone.

"You looked just like that… with blonde hair," he smiled.

"Well, we have to go… someone is expecting us," Pepper interrupted. "Nice to have seen you, Heck, and nice to have met you, Helena."

We went into the elevator and shot up to the tenth floor. I felt nauseous, and I was about to throw up all over Pepper when the elevator stopped.

I saw all sorts of things as I walked down the white hall. I saw a balloon float up to the blue sky, a ferris wheel spin off a poster, and an airplane fly down the hall.

I was hallucinating again.

I stepped into the room Pepper led me into and realized that it was not Steve's room but a prison, where Mom was being kept.

"She wanted to talk to you," Pepper said.

I shoot her a look of anger to cover up my sheer terror and walk over to the intercom that fed into Daphne's cell.

She was still young, but her face was sunken in and a little shriveled.

"Hello, Daphne," I say cruelly over the intercom. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to say I was so sorry, Valley," she says in a fake sweet voice. It was venomous.

"Now that you've let out the bullshit, let's get to the real business," I say. "What do you want, Daphne Corvettey?"

"You've always been a smart child, Valencia Renee," she said in the voice I remembered, the cut dry and serious voice. "I want you to testify that I was under the influence of Loki's magic stick."

"No, Daphne. It wouldn't help anything. You are being charged with…" I grab a clipboard that lists her charges. "Number one: murder of several people. Number two: accomplice to a mass murderer. Number three: you helped a federal fugitive. Number three: attempted murder of me. Number four: you never paid child support. Number five: illegal prostitution in the states of Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, California, and New York. Number five: treason. Number six: illegal drug use and illegal drug possession. If I was to not press charges on the attempted murder, you'd still have five federal crimes to your name. Sorry, but it's a no."

I stepped away from the microphone, walking toward the door, when I heard a slight mumble.

"What kind of daughter betrays her own mother?"

I run up to the microphone, my head spinning. "What kind of a daughter betrays her own mother? What? What kind? I'll tell you what kind! The kind of daughter that was ABANDONED with an ALCOHOLIC for a life of PROSTITUTION and DRUGS. The kind of daughter whose mother is a WHORE who only cares about her SELF and herself ONLY. The kind of daughter who would 'betray' her own mother is the daughter who was hurt by her mother first. Now think about that while you rot in jail for the rest of your life and then rot in Hell for the rest of eternity."

I turned the microphone away, frowning at where I had burned it.

Pepper helped me walk over to Steve's room, and I had almost collapsed when I saw him. He was awake, and watching me hobble into the room.

"Thanks, Pepper," he smiled weakly at her. This was his way of saying, "Please leave, Pepper."

She caught on, and nodded.

The moment she left, Steve stared into my eyes.

"Sorry," we both said at the same time.

"It's okay," I sigh.

I run over to him, and break down sobbing as he wraps his weak arms around me. I snuggle into the abnormally large hospital bed (SHIELD has its benefits) and cry as he holds me.

I cry because we both know he was dead. He was dead before he hit the ground, but for some mysterious reason God let him come back to life. I loved him so much. I cried and cried and cried on his chest for what seemed like hours. He was weak, I could tell by the way he wanted to hold me more and kiss me, but he couldn't because his energy was used up already by holding me and keeping his eyes open.

There are things, dark things at the edge of my vision that are starting to creep in.

"I love you," I whisper.

I can't see, because the dark things are taking over. I really shouldn't have heated myself up that hot yesterday. I could have destroyed it with half the heat.

"Val?" a hoarse whisper whips through the dark.

I can't hear any more, and I can't move my lips to say anything. My lips are stuck together, dried up.

"NURSE! PEPPER! NURSE! VAL! SHE'S DEHYDRATED! TOO DEHYDRATED! HELP!" a hoarse voice shouts out.

I can't move.

I feel myself getting picked up gently, and placed onto another thing. A needle pricks my arm.

I am starting to drift away.

I can hear soft, loving, aching cussing.

I wake up just enough to throw up my guts. I open my eyes slightly and see Steve, sitting there watching me. I reach out my hand limply and he grabs it, rubbing my hand with his cool fingers. I fall back into a drug induced sleep.

I wake up later, feeling groggy but better. I had a killer headache, and my mind was foggy.

Steve was sitting in a chair next to mine, looking fully recovered.

"Hey, hon," he says, rubbing my hand.

"Hey, Steve," I croak, trying to smile. A little tear comes to my eye, for whatever reason.

"You scared the living daylights out of me, you know that, right?" he says, in a soft voice.

"I know. You scared the shit out of me, too," I tease lightly, smiling.

"Okay, I have to ask you these questions for the nurse. Number one, how do you think you got extremely dehydrated?"

"I was flying too hot and it burnt up the moisture," I say, my voice dry.

"Number two, were you experiencing hallucinations, confusion, delirium, over exhaustion, or extreme thirst the hours before you came here?"

"Everything, except extreme thirst. I was thirsty, but not extremely thirsty."

He laughs, smiling at me.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing," he smiles.

I roll my eyes and lay back in the bed. He asks me a couple more yes or no questions, then we sit there for a moment.

"You scared me, Val," he says, not teasing this time.

"I know. You were… you were… you were dead when I got to you, you know that, right?" I ask.

"Yeah, I know. They say I wasn't but I was," he says, a million miles away.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

Normal people shouldn't have to ask this and mean, "Are you alive?" more than once in their life. We've had to do it for each other multiple times: when I fell off Stark Tower, when I almost drowned, when Steve was kidnapped, when he came back and I was a mess, when I was shot, when Shari was born, and now. 7 times we've almost died.

I started to cry a little.

"What's wrong?" he asks, wiping tears off my face with his thumb. He's standing by the bed now.

"I have almost lost you so many times," I say. "I am sick of it."

He smiles, leaning down close, almost kissing me. "Oh, Val, we won't have to deal with it ever again. Loki was sent away, and the Hydra were all killed. We will never have to deal with it again. Whenever you're ready, Nick is expecting us all to sign a contract that says we will remain off duty unless needed to fight a supernatural being. It's over, hon."

I reach up and kiss him, tasting a little whiskey and realizing he had been drinking a bit. But it's not like he could get drunk, or addicted.

"I love you, Val," he says, smiling.

"I love you, too," I say, smiling back.

Epilogue (14 years later) 

"Aunt Val, pass the spaghetti, please," Hank politely asks me.

"Mom, can you cut me a piece of cheese pizza?" Shar asks from down the table.

"Hey, Mommy, look at my drawing!" Violet shouts next to me.

"Val, hon, I'm going to go take Nate to the bathroom," Steve says, picking up little Nate and taking him to the men's room.

My family and Pepper's family are all here at Vito's, eating pasta and spaghetti.

Hank and Sandy are here, sitting down the table with Shar. They are fourteen, while Shar is still thirteen, and they are all in eighth grade together. They all look like they did as babies, but Shar is developed and through puberty while Sandy probably has another year or so. Hank is about five four with the politest comments and thoughts.

My five year old, Violet Marie, is sitting and coloring on a coloring sheet with Pepper and Tony's seven year old daughter, Gracie Lillian. Violet has curly blonde hair and looks just like me, while Gracie has curly black ringlets and looks just like Tony.

My baby, little two year old Nathan James, has a mix, with beige hair, like his dad, and big blue eyes like mine. He is my little boy. He reminds me of Christopher Robin from Winnie the Pooh.

Steve has aged a little. He works as a real estate agent in the tri-state area and sold many people from SHIELD their houses. His hair is slowly turning a little bit gray, but that's normal for a forty one year old man.

Tony is getting older, with completely salt and peppered hair, and wrinkles by his eyes and by his smile. He's in his late fifties, but the kids love him.

Pepper looks the same, her hair still orange and straight, but she has a little bit of wrinkles. She reminds me of a redheaded Jennifer Aniston, and I love her. She loves the kids, and works at Stark Industries with Tony, but they live in Trenton, New Jersey, in the same neighborhood as us.

We live in brick houses, kind of Colonial style.

Natasha turned out to be okay. Once Loki was gone, the whole saber thing didn't seem to work on her. She was pissed that SHIELD hadn't tried to save her, so she and Clint got married- I think- and went off to live in privacy in the Italian countryside.

As it turns out, Dr. Banner had a crush on me for a while. It was very… awkward when he told me. I told him that I was never going to stop loving Steve, so he moved on and settled down with another scientist, a woman named Amelia Martin, I think.

Thor and Jane have six or seven kids, I think, and they live in a big house in New Mexico with all of them. Thor is a trainer at a gym, and Jane works as a college science professor at the University of New Mexico. We still talk to them from time to time and see them whenever they come to New York.

Nick Fury is still alive, however old he may be. I don't know where he is, but I do know he is still in active service.

My mother is rotting in a jail cell somewhere. With all the sentences she gained from the many trials she had to go through, she has to spend three lifetimes in jail. I haven't seen or talked to her since that day at the hospital.

My dad and I reconciled, and the kids love "Pop Pop" as they call him. He and Helena are still married, and have had two kids together, so in total they have four kids. Helena is the sweetest woman, and I love her to pieces. She's a great grandmother for the kids.

I guess I look the same. I still have blonde hair, and I am almost the same size as I was back then. I work as a writing teacher at Shar's school. I still wake up screaming in the middle of the night, terrified of nightmares. Steve normally can calm me down, but it's hard. I still can flame up, but it's under more control than it used to be. I don't flame up uncontrollably when I'm mad, or when I'm excited. I only flame up when my life is in immediate danger (which it hasn't been) or when I'm extremely excited (which I have been.)

Shar still flames up, but she can only do half of what I used to do. She can flame up her skin, but she can't throw fireballs or fly around like I can. She also has a lot more control than I ever have. Violet inherited the normal genes of the family, and she can't flame up or anything.

Nate is different. Nate can heat up with flames, and he can lift things that I can barely lift. But Nate is the sweetest thing, and he can control himself better than Shar and I can combined. He worries me, sometimes, because I know that one day he will be called to help protect the Earth and that scares me more than anything.

But that's in the future.

For right now, I am happy. My kids are healthy, my husband is alive and loves me, and I have a good family.

This is the happiest I have ever been in my whole life, and I do pray that it lasts.

The End


	12. NEW SEQUEL COMING SOON!

Author's note: Loved The Red, White, and Blue? Don't fret! The sequel, Hourglass, will be uploaded soon! Please keep checking my account, doodledays, to see when it's posted! The name is a spoiler... it involves time, an hourglass, and a changed destiny.


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